Summer Discoveries
by DreamingFreedom
Summary: The story takes place after the Tartaros battle. A heartbroken Lucy needs to find a new path, whilst Natsu is in turmoil over the aftermath of the battle and his feelings towards Lucy. Meanwhile a new wizard has come into the mix - unearthing an ancient magic that threatens to destroy the recent peace that Fiore has been granted. What will happen to team Natsu in this ordeal?
1. Aftermath

**Hi there! My first attempt at writing a Fairy Tail piece so I hope you like it! I would love to hear comments of the story! Any and all criticism is also welcome!**

**I watch a lot of different anime too so if you guys want to PM me to talk about Fairy Tail (Which is definitely one of my favourites!) or other anime then go for it. I would love to hear from you guys!**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T own fairy tail! Just the plot :D**

* * *

A hot summer day in Magnolia was just as you would expect, birds chirping in the park and the riverside sparkling in the sun. Construction work was well under way after the destruction from the Tartaros encounter but progress was good – the town was almost back to normal. Everyone was so busy that no one noticed a girl sulking by the waterside, quite the opposite to the beautiful summer day.

* * *

The Fairy Tail guild hall was bustling with activity, right in the centre was a typical Gray and Natsu fight as they continued bashing their heads at each other.

"For the last time flame ass I didn't take your damn food!" Gray screamed at Natsu whilst unconsciously taking his clothes off.

"Yeah! Then where the hell did it go stripper!" Natsu yelled back.

"What?! WHERE THE HELL DID MY CLOTHES GO?! NATSU GIVE THEM BACK!" Gray frantically looked around but as always there was no sign of his clothes. Instead he chose to punch Natsu straight in the gut.

Natsu felt very uneasy – not just because of the recent blow but also because he felt worried. Or was it really just worry? Lucy had barely shown up at the guild hall anymore and refused to go on any jobs.

A memory from the battle lingered in his mind. When he regained consciousness, he found Lucy crying uncontrollably, a broken key in her hand. His felt as though his heart would stop, everything around him blurred in the background and all he could see was Lucy crying – the image was now burned in his memory. He trained all his life, mastering the art of Dragon Slayer magic but at that moment he felt utterly powerless.

Now he was quite confused, he wanted to train more but didn't want to leave Lucy behind. He was worried but still unsure of what he could do to even try to fix this. Naturally Natsu wasn't very good with thinking things through, preferring to charge straight through the problem and worry about the rest later. So now he did exactly that.

"I JUST DON'T GET IT!" Natsu screamed.

"FIRE DRAGON WING ATTACK!" For a frustrated Natsu this was almost expected – but the following blast also happened to knock down part of the newly re-built guild hall.

Gray was just about to retaliate when he looked to his right and froze. In fact, if Natsu had bothered to look around he would see all of the other guild members suddenly looked pale. However, Natsu being Natsu took this as a sign of defeat.

"Haha! Suits you just right ice princess! I'm definitely way…" But before Natsu could finish there was another loud explosion, Natsu was flung into the air and slammed straight into the wall – also breaking the wall in the process.

When he looked up, he saw blurry red - not from the blow to the head but from something far worse.

"WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!" A deafening voice boomed in what was left of the guild hall. Erza glared at Natsu – she was in fact the person who had rebuilt that particular part of the guild and was furious.

Now Natsu was the one looking pale. Gray went to stand next to Erza with a big smirk on his face.

"Serves you right hot head! Is there even a brain inside that thick skull of yours?" Gray was delighted at this turn of events – now if only he could find his clothes….

"This is your fault as well you know!" Erza punched the top of Gray's head. She had known Gray and Natsu since they were small children but no matter what she did they never could get along without a fight breaking out.

She looked at Natsu, he looked worried and she knew very well why. She had spoken to Lucy before and it was simply a matter of Lucy wanting some space. All the same, ever since Lucy joined the guild Natsu had been inseparable from her (along with Happy as well). I was no surprise that Natsu looked less like his cheery self.

Throughout this encounter Makarov was sitting at the bar – now his mouth hung open at his recently rebuilt guild hall being damaged again so soon – the irony was something else.

"Alright that's enough from all of you! Gray, Natsu and you as well Erza! The townspeople said they need help rebuilding the Cathedral so if you have this much energy go and help them!" Makarov shook his head; he had thought about disbanding the guild after all that happened but for now had chosen against it. As he looked at the damages, he thought that perhaps this was another sign…

"But master! I simply stopped Natsu before things got more out of hand!" Erza was surprised, until Makarov pointed to the broken wall where Natsu was still slumped.

"Then how do you explain that?" Makarov replied. "Just go and help the townspeople, we will handle things here." He turned back towards the bar and ordered another beer. _I'll have to discuss this with Laxus when he returns.. _

* * *

Elsewhere, in the mountains outside Shirotsume. The afternoon sun was fading but from the other side of the mountain it may as well be night. The trees were covered with snow – on the mountaintops, even in the summer there will not be a shred of warmth to be found here.

The clouds covered the sun and the in the wind a faint whisper whistled through the trees.

A man with black hair stood, looking at the fading light above. A cynical smirk on his face.

"It is almost time."

* * *

Erza walked towards the construction site in the town, dragging Natsu and Gray with her by the ears.

"Why do I need to come?! It was Natsu's fault anyways!" Gray moaned. He always got himself into these messes.

"Because Master asked us to help the townspeople so that's what you are going to do!" Erza was honestly quite tired at this point – Gray and Natsu had tried to restart their fight 3 times already on the way alone! There was only one thing to be done.

"Ok Gray, go help the workers at the Cathedral! Natsu, you're coming with me to help rebuild some of the houses!" In truth, Erza knew the work at the houses was almost done – she had somewhere she wanted to be before sunset and if she told either Gray or Natsu she would have the whole guild as an audience.

Once they went their separate ways Natsu and Erza made quick work of the materials given, the reconstruction was a success. After saying goodbye to the townspeople, Erza just had to slip by Natsu unnoticed – which really would be an easy task considering how Natsu was still staring down at his feet, deep in thought. Erza actually felt more worried about Natsu who rarely ever seemed to be this focused on something. It was surely about Lucy but if she said it blatantly then Natsu would definitely reject the idea in denial.

"How about you stop by the waterside, the view is always nice at sunset" Erza pointed out, knowing Lucy would likely be there as well.

"I guess I can.." Natsu started off, still grumpy from having to do all that work after only half finishing his lunch _which gray definetly took _he though.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow in the guild hall and you and Gray better not be arguing again." With a special emphasis on better. Erza walked away towards the gates to leave Magnolia – but as ever Natsu's attention was on something else entirely. He walked towards the riverside and sure enough, he knew Lucy was there. Or perhaps more accurately he could smell that she was there.

He walked closer to where she was sitting by the riverside, careful to keep his distance so he could go unnoticed. His hearing was extremely good and he could tell she was talking to Plue who was in her lap. Natsu still didn't understand what had happened very well, he knew she was upset and he knew that he felt a mixture of worry and _something else I don't really understand _he thought. _Well she doesn't know I'm here yet… Maybe if I just listen in just a little, I'll know what I can do to help… _Natsu was still a fair distance from Lucy and he decided that was (probably) the best thing to do.

"Plueee" Lucy sobbed. She had been here for who knows how long. When she closed her eyes all she could see was Aquarius…. her teary-eyed smile as she said goodbye one last time.

"I'm not sure if I was the celestial mage Aquarius hoped for… the golden keys are extremely powerful but I've never been strong enough…. I always have to depend on the strength of others."

Natsu sucked in his breath. His heart was pounding but at the same time he felt numb… he would do anything for a friend, but Lucy was always different. He really did feel like he would go to the ends of the earth just to see her smile – but why?

_She's my best friend so I would do anything for her right? To see her smile…. What is it I have to do? Damn it! I don't know anything about celestial keys! _His hands turned into fists and he punched the wall next to him in frustration. Suddenly remembering Lucy was very close by he craned his neck to make sure she didn't notice.

Lucy was still lost in her own thoughts. Plue looked up at her with concern but unfortunately, he couldn't talk. Hugging her instead to give some sort of reassurance.

"I need to become stronger… I always rely on Natsu, Erza, Gray and my other celestial spirits for help…" Lucy thought about Natsu, how he always stood in front of her as a shield whenever there was any danger. Natsu had always been by her side and she couldn't imagine a world without him. Lucy always wanted to become stronger… but despite her efforts she still felt miles behind Natsu.

"Then let's make a deal. We will both continue get stronger together from now on." Natsu said in a soft voice, siting next to Lucy and putting an arm around her shoulder. Lucy looked at him in shock – Natsu always had a way to understand what she was feeling.

"You are incredibly strong in your own way you know" he continued in a soft voice.

"That's not true…" Lucy trailed off. Natsu meant the world to Lucy… her heart started to beat faster. _Is he just saying that to make me feel better? _

"I think strength means doing what needs to be done to help those who are important to you" Natsu looked straight in Lucy's eyes.

"What you did on that day proves you are very strong; you saved my life…. Heck you saved everyone in the whole guild!" Natsu remembered the moment when the battle against Tartaros had finished. Even thought it was a victory it didn't really feel like it was, the things that they had lost in that fight might be beyond repair.

"Do you really mean that?" Lucy's reply was a whisper, she still looked unsure of herself.

"Yes, I do." Natsu said, hoping his words were reaching her.

"I promise I'll always be by your side. I know I'm not an expert at celestial magic but we will find the Aquarius key. No mater how long it takes." Natsu was determined to help Lucy, and he meant every word. There was a pause as the wind blew past Lucy's golden hair. _Why isn't she saying anything? _He thought.

"Thank you Natsu. You don't know how much that means to me." Lucy gave Natsu a bright smile and leaned on his shoulder.

She knew that as long as Natsu was with her she could face anything. Looking at the sunset, she had a feeling this was the start of another exciting adventure.


	2. Reunion

**Hi again! I'm aiming to update every week - so far so good! Tell me what you think in the comments, or if you have any predictions about the story ahead!**

**Enjoy the chapter, I thought I'd add in a bit of jealousy for this one - can't make it too easy for Jerza now can we ;)**

* * *

At the edge of the forest near Magnolia, a man with velvet blue hair stood looking at the sunset. His brows were furrowed and he looked somewhat uneasy.

A young girl of short stature with long pink hair, and light green eyes walked towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you so worried about Jellal? The mission is perfectly safe, bringing the whole group might even be overkill when you stop to think about it." Meredy said in an irritated voice as she rolled her eyes. She had seen Jellal with that same face all week, and she was almost certain the mission wasn't the reason for his worry.

"I'm not so sure…. I'm just not very good with these things you know? Besides, remember what happened last time it was just the two of us." Jellal said as he turned to look at Meredy, giving her a pointed look. When Meredy had joined the group, he wasn't too sure of what her true intentions were but so far, she had proven to be exceptionally helpful.

"Oh don't worry, I don't think any of us will forget that sudden announcement about your fiancé." She smiled as she saw his expression turn sheepish.

Meredy bit her lip as she looked at Jellal standing in the orange sunlight. His cheeks looking like they've been set on fire as the wind gently tousled his hair. They had been on countless missions together and she knew that Jellal always prioritised their work over everything else, but looking at him now she couldn't help but wonder…

"Look, I'll see how it goes this time ok…. Could you please make sure none of the others are listening in this time?" Jellal replied, trying to put an end to any further teasing.

"Alright I'll try to stop them, no promises though." Meredy chuckled as she walked back to where they had made camp.

* * *

Not too far from there stood a nervous Erza standing behind a rather large tree. _Why am I even standing here? _Jellal had asked her to come by today because he had something important to tell her – mentioning nothing else other than that.

She had noticed Jellal standing by the edge of the forest with Meredy for some reason she panicked and hid behind a tree. _I hope he doesn't think I was spying on him… _

She also happened to see the discussion they had, and really wished she had amazing hearing like Natsu. She saw Meredy talking to Jellal, both looking at each other as Meredy smiled and Jellal started to blush.

_I was almost certain when he was talking about his fiancé, he wasn't being serious. _Looking at them now she began to have some doubts. _Maybe I'm just overthinking this… _

She felt like her heart was on fire as she became increasingly nervous.

"Erza! There you are." Jellal was now standing right in front of Erza, mere inches from her face.

Panicking, Erza jumped to the side and started stuttering, "Wha…What are you doing here Jellal?" She was sure Jellal was still standing where she last saw him by the edge of the forest, looking back in that direction as though she didn't believe her eyes.

"That's my line. We decided to meet at the edge of the forest, didn't we?" Jellal chuckled as he saw Erza's surprised face. _She looks beautiful as always, _he though, sighing to himself.

"W..Well yeah I was just …. Well that's not important now anyways! What was it you wanted to tell me?" Erza said, praying Jellal didn't realise she was spying on him. _Well not spying, that sounds more scandalous… maybe I could say I was scouting the area? No… that doesn't sound believable…_

"Umm well, I was wondering if maybe you were free for the next few weeks?" Jellal felt nervous, not that he was proposing or anything but when it came to Erza he somehow always thought things might go wrong. The last thing he wanted was to upset her over something, especially after what she had to go through in the past. _Especially after what I did in the past. _

His mind flashed back to when they were children, as it often does from time to time, the Tower of Heaven looming above them. Many times, he felt like he was still carrying the weight of that tower on his shoulders.

"Well, there's still a great deal of work to be done rebuilding the town… Master might need me to handle things for a while at the guild if he's going to the Wizard Saint's meeting. Not to mention I'm the only one who can seem to pull Natsu and Gray apart before they destroy the guild again." Erza's words dragged Jellal back from his thoughts.

"Oh actually, you might want to bring Natsu along on this one. Lucy as well actually." Jellal had thought a great deal about the mission and who would be best to bring along.

"What do you mean, is this another job request? Why would we need to bring Natsu and Lucy to this anyways?" Erza knew the work Jellal does can get very dangerous, and whilst she knew Natsu would be probably be fine, Lucy didn't seem like she could manage anything like that the way things have been going.

"Oh, right I should tell you more about the mission before you decide." Jellal inwardly felt like hitting his head against the tree. He should have explained what the mission was first! _I really can't think as straight when she's around._

"We got a rather strange report from Shirotsume saying that there's some ancient ruins that's become active recently – whatever that mean – and those ruins were once an ancient celestial temple. I was thinking there could be a chance we could get information about a golden celestial key there, and figure out why it became active to suddenly." Jellal explained what he had heard.

Normally it would seem like a rumour of some sort but given the timing he thought it was worth looking into. _And there's also **that**…. But I really do hope that part's just a rumour._

"But wouldn't this just be a normal mission, maybe closer to S class than most, but still not serious enough for Crime Sorcière to get involved." Erza looked sceptical.

"Well in terms of dark magic, that's what we think 'awakened' the ruins - or might have anyways. The fact that it's also a celestial temple made me wonder if it had some useful information that you guys could use." Jellal studied Erza's face carefully, she still looked concerned.

"I think it can be a good opportunity to find out some more information... You've been worried about Lucy a lot, haven't you?" Jellal added in a soft voice.

"I'm just not sure she's ready for a mission just yet… I'll have to ask her and Natsu I suppose. If they can't make it, I would still like to go - if it's ok with you." Erza said as she looked up at Jellal. Erza thought about how sad Lucy looked recently. If it would help find her Aquarius key then it was definitely worth it.

"I look forward to it." Jellal said with a gentle smile on his face.

The sun was just about to disappear past the horizon, the fading light shining on both of them. Their scarlet red and velvet blue hair seemed to stand out more so than usual, like fire and ice. Both extremes were incredibly powerful. Perhaps that is why it suited them so well.

* * *

The next day came with a bright cloudless sky, it was a warm summer day with a gentle breeze passing by. On a hill stood a small but cosy looking cottage – yet unlike the serene woods surrounding it there was furious yelling coming from inside.

"AHHH WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" Natsu had been so worried about Lucy that he had finally done the unthinkable.

When Natsu had asked Master Makarov, he simply stared at him. After realising Natsu wasn't joking Master's jaw fell to the ground, his eyes turned to saucers and he looked visibly shaken. When he consulted Levy, she looked very worried, even checking his forehead to make sure he didn't have a fever. After this as he walked into another room in the guild, everyone's eyes were on his back in disbelief.

Yes, believe it or not, Natsu Dragneel was reading a book. Or trying to at least.

"I just don't get it! What is all this about summoning and key handling! Lucy makes it look like a piece of cake!" Natsu stared at the book is disbelief.

"Hey Natsu, wasn't that the beginner's book?" Happy flew from right to left, finding Natsu's situation hilarious. He knew Natsu disliked reading but despite slow progress, he had indeed finished almost half the book.

"Yeah well the guild library didn't have that many books on celestial magic anyways!" Natsu eyed the other book he had also picked up from the guild library. The cover showed a picture of the 12 golden keys and the title read 'The Ancient Zodiac'. He had planned to quickly read the first book and move on to that one but as things were going now it would take him another week. _I have to speed this up somehow…_

"Well maybe it's just this book that's confusing – Let me have a look at that one." Natsu picked up 'The Ancient Zodiac', which released a cloud of dust as he opened it.

"Natsu are you sure you know what you're doing?" Happy looked at the old book that was five times the size of the beginner book. All the pages were sprawled with messy handwriting, and had turned almost brown in colour from age. Natsu was concentrating hard as he read the still dusty pages, referring back to the first book from time to time.

Happy became increasingly tired of watching in silence and was now also quite hungry. Nastu was still occupied in reading (he was actually surprised by his level of concentration) and so he decided to go to the guild for some fish.

* * *

Erza walked into the guild hall, deciding to speak with master so she could get his opinion on the matter. Jellal had given her the mission details and left for Shirotsume ahead of them to do some scouting. Inwardly Erza felt like he was hiding something – even after he explained why he wanted to go on the mission, it didn't seem like something Crime Sorcière would get involved in. _The work they do is with serious threats regarding dark magic, and not to mention the work is far too dangerous for any average guild to do…._

"Erza! I made some strawberry cake with Mirajane. Would you like to try some?" Wendy stood in front of Erza with a small plate containing a delicately iced strawberry cake, with one strawberry placed on top.

"Well I don't see why not." Erza's mouth began to water as she saw her favourite cake in front of her.

Mirajane cut the small cake into several pieces, making sure Erza got the one with the strawberry on top.

"Here you go Erza, you know Wendy even got you fresh strawberries from the next town over for this cake!" Mirajane smiled as she saw Erza's face light up.

"Thanks Wendy, I'm sure this will taste even better because of your efforts!" Erza could barely hold her excitement.

"It was nothing really, I finished a mission there anyways and picking the strawberries was really fun." Wendy replied with a bright smile.

Erza took a bite of the cake, the icing melting in her mouth. The strawberry was very fresh, it's sweet and slightly sour taste complementing the icing well.

"Did you like it?" Wendy was looking at Erza the whole time with eager excitement.

"Of course, I loved it. Dare I say it was one of the best strawberry cakes I've ever had." Erza's tone was soft as she looked at Wendy. She had grown a great deal over the last battle but she worried about her. After all, Wendy was only 13.

Wendy gave a satisfying nod to Erza's reply before taking a slice for herself and Carla.

After some thought, she decided to ask Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Happy to come along. Bringing Wendy would be very risky, especially if this turned out to be a dangerous mission.

_In fact, I should do some more research so I know more about the mission before going to master. _Erza thought as she walked up to the second floor of the guild to look in the archives, perhaps it would have more details of the celestial temple. After closing the door of the dimly lit room, she heard a small thud as a few scrolls fell to the ground.

"Who's there! Show yourself!" She commanded, walking towards the sound.


	3. Missions

**Hi again! Thanks to all the readers that have been following the story so far :D**

**(Also I changed the ending of first chapter a bit since I have something exciting planned for later) **

**Oh, and a lot of the places I mention in the story are actual places in the anime/manga so you can have a look at them if you want (well unless I need a more exciting name :P) **

**Thank you all for the favorites, follows and comments! **

* * *

Erza squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dark room. The sound had come from the back and as much as she wanted to requip into her battle armour, she feared that any fighting would damage the room.

"Erza? Thank God it's you!" A shirtless Gray stood up behind a few crates.

"What are you doing here?! Only S class mages or people with special permission can access these archives!" She said as she punched Gray on the head.

"Oww come on! Keep your voice down would you." Gray replied in an irritated voice as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

From the outside of the door there was a distinct voice calling, "Gray samaaaa! Juvia has found your shirt! I was just outside hereeee!" Juvia's voice rang through the hallway.

"I hope Gray sama isn't hiding! Juvia will definitely find Gray samaaa!" Juvia sounded as though she was close to the door. Gray dived behind the crates again and just a few seconds after the door was opened.

A hesitant Juvia peaked into the archives room. Erza looked at Gray's pleading eyes and sighed.

"Juvia, you're not permitted in this room." Erza spoke in a sturdy voice, feeling slightly guilty for lying.

"Juvia knows she's not allowed in this room, but Juvia's looking for Gray sama and thought he might be here…." Juvia trailed off.

"Perhaps you should try waiting downstairs by the entrance of the guild hall? I'm sure Gray's still in the guild so he'll have to walk past there sooner or later." Erza suggested.

"Juvia thinks that's a great idea!" Juvia smiled as she left for the guild hall, still carrying Gray's shirt.

After the door closed and Juvia was out of earshot Gray let out a loud moan.

"That's the fifth shirt this week! I won't have any left at this rate!" Gray looked very grumpy.

"Well she does seem to be able to actually find your clothes – and you usually end up loosing them anyways don't you." Erza shook her head as she looked at Gray.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Gray's attention was back on Erza who had what looked like some sort of a mission slip in her hand.

"It's an important mission I want you, me, Natsu and Lucy to go on." Erza said plainly, there was no point in dragging out the explanation just yet anyways.

"WHAT?! No way! I'm not going on a mission with Natsu!" Gray's voice became increasingly louder.

"Keep your voice down or Juvia's going to find you." Erza glared at Gray.

"Besides, this mission if for Lucy." She continued, hoping she wouldn't have to drag him along like last time.

"For Lucy? What do you mean?" Gray was now very much interested in what Erza has to say.

"Well the mission is about…." Erza began explaining.

* * *

Elsewhere in Dawn city, four mages were entered a bar in hopes of gaining some information.

Dawn city had grown considerably over the last couple of years, becoming busier and more exciting with every passing day. There are many mages living in the city but almost none with much fighting ability – so when there were strange occurrences taking place, they submitted a mission request.

Now when people say strange occurrences, it doesn't mean that someone saw a ghost – although the initial reports did seem to describe it that way. Most of the reports started around two months ago and told of some creature lurking in the shadow at night. It was describing a very ominous scene if anything, almost as though it was taken out of a movie. Through gossip it became something of an urban legend, and what the local authority thought was simply people who had a little too much to drink.

Life continued very much the same until a few weeks later, when four men were found heavily wounded in a street. This couldn't be dismissed quite as easily, and from examination it was discovered that the wounds were from an innate magic.

The next day, the newspaper published the story describing the incident and claiming a master criminal was on the loose. Tensions rose and at dusk as the sky turned an amber red, a loud scream echoed into the distance. There was a mass panic as people began to run, the fear in the air was palpable.

There was a woman lying on the ground covered in blood, just behind her stood something that had never been seen before. Letting out a large screech, the creature which looked like darkness personified escaped into the shadows of the fading sunlight.

To say the city was unprepared would be an understatement, Dawn city was if anything known for being a peaceful area. The people had little experience with monsters of any kind and feared the worst was yet to some. After one person had been killed and four still in hospital the only option they had was to ask help from one of the guilds.

Back at the bar, the four mages waiting patiently for their information broker to meet them, hopefully being able to help them solve the mystery.

A young woman with long black hair with heavy dark red highlights walked up to the group. She had bright brown eyes with a gentle smile dancing on her face. Her slender physic complemented her fair skin well and many heads turned to look as she walked past. She was wearing a white sleeveless crop top and a rather long fur-trimmed red coat with a light pink collar, accompanied with black short shorts and black boots reaching just short of her knees.

Even from where she was, she could see one of them had become wide eyed as he gave her a once over.

"You're staring too much!" Evergreen said as she elbowed him.

"Come on it's not like you can blame me." Laxus replied, as his eyes focused on the girl in front of him.

"I do hope this is the broker – we're running late as it is." Freed mumbled.

"Awww come on! This place looks way more interesting that I thought it would be." Bickslow added in as he gestured towards the girl.

Evergreen rolled her eyes at them, instead choosing to go over the mission flier once again. For some reason the leaflet said that the requirements are for a S class dragon slayer mage. Dragon slayers weren't very common – and for an S class mage it was very limited number of people indeed...

"Hi there! I'm the information broker you requested. You're all from Fairy Tail right?" The young woman looked at them expectantly with a bright smile.

"Yeah, I'm the S class dragon slayer. And you are?" Laxus gave her one of his lady killer smiles.

"I'm Ruby Cillia, it's wonderful to meet all of you! I'm a mage myself actually." Ruby replied, taking a seat next to Laxus.

"You are? Which type of magic can you do?" Laxus asked as he arched an eyebrow.

"I use Light and Darkness magic, it's rather complicated because of its different properties." Ruby replied.

"Really? Now there's a rare type of magic." Bickslow said, peering past Laxus.

"Well it was passed down my family apparently, I haven't mastered it yet but I hope to one day." Ruby replied, suddenly feeling a bit shy – she had tried her best to learn the spells but with no teacher it had always proven to be a challenge.

"If I could remind you that we are here on a MISSION!" Evergreen glared at the group. "Now Ruby, if you would be as kind as to tell us the information we need we'll be on our way."

"Oh right of course. You wanted to know more about these creatures that were seen that day. I did some digging in the national archives and found an ancient lore that seems to de…." Before Ruby could continue Evergreen cut in.

"What?! So you're telling me that this INFORMATION is based on some fairy tale!" Evergreen fumed, at this rate they would never finish the mission.

"Come on Evergreen, we haven't heard what she has to say yet" Freed said in a calm voice.

"We know that many forms of dark magic can be re-cast if someone gets their hands on the incantation spell." Laxus added in.

"Since when do you do your research?" Evergreen was surprised, Laxus hardly ever prepared for a mission beforehand.

"Um... guys? I think this would actually be pretty useful." Ruby interjected. Once everyone was looking at her again she continued. "The archives described a similar attack had taken place in the past, the creatures were also described as living shadows. Here's the interesting part – it says that the creatures primary form of attack surrounds magic that can absorb its opponent's magic, and that the attacks form regressive wounds." Ruby said as she explained what she had learned.

"Wait so how do we know that this matches the current monster's we're facing?" Bickslow looked sceptical, even if the data was accurate it wasn't certain that it was the enemy at hand.

"Well the thing is that after looking at the medical records of the victims, the wounds actually match exactly. In other words we noticed that in each individual they showed a loss – or drainage – of magical energy and their injuries were wounds were also regressive." Ruby added, she looked fascinated by the historical accuracy of the information she found.

"When you say regressive wounds, you mean a form of magic poisoning that almost eats away at the wound right?" Laxus asked.

"Yes, exactly. These is caused by the wrong magic type mixing in with the person. If the people aren't mages the wounds are more severe." Ruby said with a concerned look on her face.

"Alright I think that's all we need. Rumor has it they were spotted at just before nightfall near a field just outside of the city." Laxus replied as he got up to leave.

"Do you think I could come along as well? It mentioned that only certain types of magic are useful against these monsters…." Ruby stood up as well, looking at Laxus expectantly. However it wasn't him that answered.

"This is an S class mission and you certainly don't look qualified." Evergreen eyed the girl who certainly looked around their age but didn't seem to have much magical power. Seeing Ruby's forlorn face she added. "I'm sure you'll get there one day, maybe you should join a guild?"

"Well, good luck on your mission!" Ruby smiled at the group as they exited. Laxus had a grumpy look on his face.

* * *

Back in Magnolia, Juvia was at the guild hall, eyes peeled for any signs of Gray. Jet and Droy were frantically running around the guild hall, searching under tables and in closets, until Jet got into the kitchen and started looking in the cupboards.

"Can I help you?" A slightly worried Mirajane looked at Jet as he frantically searched the kitchen.

"Me and Droy left for a mission last week but when we got back there's been no sign of Levy!" Jet looked genuinely concerned, to which Mirajane gave a slight chuckle.

"Are you two really that stupid?!" Cana almost yelled as she rolled her eyes. After gulping down another sip of beer she added, "Why on earth would you search for her in a CUPBOARD?!"

"Well she's pretty small you know." Droy replied, still not seeing the point.

"So what's the deal? Are were one of you gonna ask her out or something" Canna wasn't being serious at all, but Jet and Droy turned red, looking at each other and then looking back at Cana.

"NANI?! No wayyyy!" Jet and Droy replied in perfect unison.

"Well I think someone may have beat you to it." Mirajane added in, a conspiratorial smile (the same one she had given Lucy when she was setting her up with Natsu).

Just before Jet or Droy could retaliate, the doors of the guild hall flew open, a grumpy Gajeel and a cheery Levy entered.

Cana met Mirajane's eye and started laughing as Jet and Droy rushed over to where Levy was.

"Where were you? Why did you go with HIM? Why didn't you tell us?" Jet and Droy fired a round of questions at Levy, who looked slightly nervous for being put on the spot.

Jet eyed her slightly torn sleeve, noticing a small bandage on her left hand.

"What? How did you get injured?" Jet panicked as Levy shook her hands trying to wave it off.

Jet and Droy then glared at Gajeel, looking like they might kill him.

"Come on it wasn't even a dangerous mission I swear! We were asked to collect some rare plant in the forest." Gajeel replied.

"Yeah, this is just a scratch from one of the plants and Gajeel patched it up immediately." Levy explained as she looked at Gajeel, _He was so sweet, I think I almost gave him a heart attack when he saw that I got hurt. _She thought to herself.

"Yeah, well whatever" Gajeel replied, still looking a bit grumpy. Levy just sighed in response.

Jet and Droy looked a little surprised, looking between Levy and Gajeel but still not able to piece together what was going on between them.

"Well I gotta go see master real quick ok, be back in a bit." Gajeel walked towards Makarov's room as Jet and Droy continued to fuss over Levy.

As Gajeel entered master's room, he noticed a bunch of papers on his desk.

"Got a lot of paperwork?" Gajeel asked as Makarov jumped back onto his chair after sifting through another pile.

"Yes, I'm trying to find out which mission Laxus went to most recently." Makarov shook his head, Laxus often left soon after he came back to the guild from a mission, most of the time not even stopping to say hello in the middle. "You just came back from a mission didn't you?" He asked, looking up at Gajeel. "Did something happen?"

"Well… I saw something in Occultatum forest…" Gajeel trailed off, it was hard to describe just what he saw... or rather what he has sensed.

"Well, what was it?" Makarov frowned, he had a bad feeling about this. "That place, I believe, was where Zeref had awakened one of his demons – but that was a very long time ago. It should just be a normal forest now though." Makarov added.

"Yeah well that's what I thought when I took this mission, but when I was there I sensed a very high magic pressure – on the level of a wizard saint actually.

Makarov looked exceedingly concerned, remembering what another guild had reported last month that was the main topic to be discussed in the upcoming council meeting.

"I think it was a medium sized creature, just a bit taller that the average human actually, from what I saw it has what almost looked like a strange pattern carved on its back, It released concentrated dark magic that formed a sphere around itself which dissipated soon enough, but the nearby area had… almost like it had become tainted with dark magic. It looked insane!" Gajeel recalled the destruction he saw, the range of the monster wasn't that large but the damage to the area was unlike anything he had ever seen.

"Well are you sure it wasn't a person? You said it wasn't that tall - perhaps it was another mage that you had crossed by?" Makarov furrowed his brows and closed his eyes as he thought about the implication this might have.

"No, it definitely wasn't a human. It smelled nothing like a human actually..." Gajeel started wondering if he had sensed something like it in the past, but couldn't think of anything.

"Well you may as well explain the whole mission to me, it seems I'll have to report the incident to the council anyway." Makarov looked pensive as he finally opened his eyes.

_I suppose contacting Laxus will have to wait._


	4. An adventure or two

**Hi There! Here's the next chapter - thank's for all the reviews!**

**Would you like the chapters to be longer even though it would take longer to update?  
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* * *

"What?! That's crazy, I didn't even know celestial temples existed!" Gray was definitely surprised at the information - if Lucy know that they existed then wouldn't she have gone to look already? _Something seems strange... _He thought about consulting Loki on the matter – after all he would know more.

"Well, that's how it is." Erza had finished explaining the mission, but chose to leave out the dark magic part. Jellal assured her the mission wouldn't be dangerous, so for now it was best to keep it simple. _Well, what's the worst that could happen? _

"Well… if it gives us more information about the gold keys then I guess I could come." Gray wasn't looking forward to working with Natsu again but he couldn't help himself this time. Lucy hadn't shown up in the guild for months, and now he was worried she might even leave the guild altogether.

"Excellent, I'll inform master of the mission and begin preparations." Erza was actually surprised at the lack of protest from Gray, who was still crouched behind the crates.

"Well, I'll go tell Lucy." Gray said as he got up and started climbing out the window.

"And WHAT do you think you're doing?" Ezra said in a stern voice.

"Come on! You know Juvia's sitting down in the guild hall! She was so hard to loose last time." Gray pouted as he avoided Erza's glare.

"I thought you said you would take her more seriously after everything that happened?" Erza arched an eyebrow, looking at Gray expectantly.

"Yeah well…" Gray mumbled.

"Besides, it's not proper to leave the guild out of the window! Go back to the guild hall and talk to Juvia." Erza ordered, watching Gray sulking as he walked out of the room.

Erza walked up to the door leading to master's office, but before she could enter.

"Oh, hi there Erza!" Mirajane smiled as she walked towards Erza.

"Sorry Mira, I've got something to discuss with master so I should really be going." Erza replied.

"I'm afraid master's having a rather serious discussion with Gajeel at the moment." Mirajane looked apologetic as she pointed towards master's office.

_Well, now Gray's on board, I guess it would be best to speak to Lucy – the archives didn't have much information about this celestial temple and I still need her to agree to all this._

"I see, well could you pass on a message to him then?" Erza got some paper and scribbled a note on it before handing it to Mirajane.

"Yeah sure!" Mirajane smiled again before folding the paper as she walked back to the kitchens.

Meanwhile, Gray went back to the guild hall and as expected he hear the familiar call…

"Gray Samaaaaa! Juvia has found your shirt!" Juvia walked up to Gray, beaming at him as though she had won a trophy. Although actually finding Gray's clothes did seem like a miracle.

"Hey, what's up?" Gray said, sounding uninterested.

"Juvia is fine, because she found you Gray sama." Juvia looked sheepish as she handed Gray's shirt to him.

"Yeah well… Thanks." Gray replied in a low voice.

To which Juvia smiled and nodded.

"Hey listen, I'll be going on a mission soon which should take a few weeks." Gray said, hoping to avoid the gaze of his fellow guild mates.

"Awww, don't they look like a sweet couple." Levy smiled as she looked at both of them.

"Whatever!" Gray grabbed Juvia's hand and led her to another room in the guild, which didn't help much since they had gotten the attention of most of the guild by now.

"Have fun out there kids!" Canna caught Gray's eye and gave him a wink.

They were now in the guild library as Gray continued to explain to Juvia, noticing how her cheeks got slightly pink after Cana's last comment.

"It's gonna be just team Natsu this time…" Gray looked out the window, but he noticed the familiar glint in Juvia's eyes.

"So love rival is going on the mission?!" Juvia was already making plans on how she could try to tag along when Gray added in.

"There's nothing to it, she would know the most about this stuff anyways." Gray could see a flicker of disappointment of Juvia's face.

"How about we go on mission after all this?" Gray mumbled, already regretting what he just said.

"Juvia thinks that's a great idea!" Juvia beamed at him.

Gray smiled. _Maybe this will be ok after all…_

Just them the door to the library opened, Loki walked in with a wide grin on his face.

"I could help but overhear you're conversation" Loki smiled at Juvia and Gray.

"Yeah sureee it was definitely an accident." Gray rolled his eyes.

"What's this mission about Lucy?" Loki continued, ignoring Gray's comment.

"A celestial temple was discovered near Shirotsume, we think it could have information about the celestial keys." Gray watched Loki's reaction as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hmm celestial temples do exist, but one hasn't been discovered by humans in eons. Still, I have heard that they are very dangerous… rumour has it you can't summon celestial spirits at all once you enter the area." Loki closed his eyes and tried to remember when he had last heard of Shirotsume. _It definitely rings a bell. _

_"_Well it's a good thing we're going along with Lucy for this one." Gray replied.

"Juvia thinks we should do some more research into this.." Juvia was still standing next to Gray and was stood silently until now. This mission started to sound more dangerous by the second.

"Then it's settled." Erza was standing by the entrance to the library, now getting slightly antsy about the mission details.

"Weren't you going to speak to master?" Gray asked.

"Master's busy so I thought I would go discuss this with Lucy." Erza replied.

"Alright then, I'll do some more research and see if we can dig anything up." Gray replied. He didn't usually do much research before missions but this time something told him it would be best to be cautious.

"Alright then, I'll go tell Lucy." Erza nodded before leaving.

"I guess we better start reading." Gray said, completely monotone.

"Juvia will help Gray sama!" Juvia added.

Loki smiled and shook his head before turning to the stacks and stacks of books in front of them.

Unknown to the group, someone else was listening in to the conversation. Happy was flying just outside the window, still nibbling on a piece of fish.

"Natsu's not gonna believe this!" He said before flying back towards their house.

* * *

Back in master's office, Gajeel had a serious look on his face as he began to tell Makarov about the mission.

Gajeel swatted yet another bug on his arm. Levy had convinced him to come on an exciting and adventurous mission, but when they got to their client it was a different story entirely.

Their client lived in a large mansion and clearly loved splurging money. The outside was white marble swirled with patches of grey here and there. The gardens seemed to stretch as far as the eye can see, they all had evenly cut grass and beautiful flowerbeds planted around the perimeter. As they walked up the stairs rows of maids and waiters were standing on either side of them, dressed in crisp uniform from head to toe.

When they entered the large, heavily furnished living room there was a rather tall women sitting on one of the luxurious looking couches.

"Hi there... Um we're from Fairy Tail and we're here for the mission you requested." Levy seemed slightly daunted by the atmosphere and spoke with a quiet voice.

"Oh! Finally, I thought you would never get here." The woman looked at both of them up and down. Gajeel gritted his teeth, not liking where this was going but before he could say anything Levy nudged him in the rib.

"I'm Eclaire Novel and I want you to find me this." Eclaire had a regal accent and gestured to one of her maids. The maid walked up to Levy and handed her a piece of paper with a picture and some writing on it.

"You must bring it back by tomorrow morning, no later than that or you only get paid half." She said in a very haughty voice.

Gajeel's mouth was open in shock. He thought this was going to be some hunting mission but in front of him was a picture of some flower – and this woman demands that we find it in less than a day?

"You want us to find some flower?! You said in the flier that it was extremely important!" Gajeel almost yelled at Eclaire.

However, next to him Levy was the complete opposite, beaming at the flier as though she received a present.

"Gajeel, this isn't just any flower! It's called Queen of the Night!" Levy sounded ecstatic as she started to explain.

"Seriously? That's what this plant is called? No matter this princess here wants it so badly." Gajeel huffed, he rolled his eyes in frustration.

"It's not a plant! It's a flower, and a very rare one at that. It only blooms at night and the petals wilt before morning! Isn't that fascinating?" Levy was smiling at Gajeel, hoping he would stop complaining (especially right in front of the client).

"Precisely, now if you'd hurry off and find it for me. I have a party planned tomorrow night which should be the right time to see the flowers bloom. Remember, don't be late." Eclaire was amused by their interaction but wanted them to start the mission as soon as possible.

"Yes, of course! We'll get it for you by tomorrow morning." Levy replied as she tried to drag Gajeel out of the mansion. Gajeel was still glaring at Eclaire, but chose not to say anything.

That's how they ended up in the forest, searching for the flower until the sun started to set.

"It should be easier to find it now since it begins glowing in the dark…. I hope we find it!" Levy looked tired but still tried to sound cheery.

"How about we split up? It would speed up the search." Levy added. Gajeel looked sceptical but didn't want to stay in the forest after dark.

"Alright, but stay where I can see you." Gajeel replied.

As they continued searching Gajeel heard something in the distance, whilst it was probably nothing, he thought it was worth investigating.

He walked towards the sounds, almost sounding like a shriek from an animal. Soon he was far away from Levy but he didn't notice, the shrieks became growls and whatever it was didn't seem natural.

He had wandered further into the woods, the trees covering up most of the light. Suddenly he heard another shriek, and something shot past him on his left.

_Crap! It's closer than I thought! _Gajeel was on alert, whatever the creature was, it certainly wasn't human.

Suddenly there was a blast right in front of him, it looked almost like a giant laser was shot mere inches from his face.

He jumped backwards, tripping on a branch.

_Why on earth is it so dark here? What's that smell?_

It was irregularly dark in the area, as though the light had been sucked out of the air. When looking at the damaged surroundings, the ground almost looked scorched – yet it wasn't burnt. It smelt like some type of magic but it was still unclear. A bead of sweat went down Gajeel's back. Whatever this was, it was extremely fast.

Before Gajeel could collect his thoughts, there was a strong wind almost sucking the air to one direction. A large thud could be heard behind him, as Gajeel turned around, he saw a creature that looked similar to a man, but was much larger and disproportionate. It had what appeared to be a cloak around it. Its eyes were black, much like the rest of its body. What struck him was the creature's eyes, its iris was pure white. It looked like the creature was in deep pain, letting out another scream.

Before Gajeel knew what happened, there was a large surge of magical energy, he closed his eyes and raised his hands in front of him to block the attack as he had no time to dodge.

The blast threw him backwards and knocked him onto a large tree. Reeling in pain he looked up to see the monster has disappeared. The light slowly returned to the area and what remained was utterly shocking. The surroundings may look burnt but it wasn't – from the blast, around 10 metres from that point the landscape had changed entirely. Every plant had been turned black and white, contaminated with magic. It was an eerie sight to behold.

Gajeel stood up slowly, still unsure about what had just happened. Other than the explosion he seemed fine and just as he was about to relax, a loud scream could be heard in the distance.

_Levy_

Gajeel panicked and felt all the blood draining from his face. He sprinted back towards the sound, praying that it wasn't that monster.

As he spotted Levy in the distance, her sleeve was soaked in blood and for a moment he felt like his heart stopped.

Looking around he didn't see anyone but before he could ask what happened, Levy looked up at him apologetically.

"Oh sorry Gajeel… There was this wild boar that jumped up out of nowhere and I was so surprised that I screamed…" Levy looked up at Gajeel, his face was very pale and he was staring at her as though he had seen a ghost.

"It's alright, let me see that wound." Gajeel gently took Levy's hand and after inspection the wound wasn't that deep. He let out a breath feeling as though he could finally relax as he promptly cleaned and bandaged the wound.

"I actually fell backwards and scraped my arm against that plant there." Levy pointed at a thorny looking plant with an apologetic look on her face. _Aww he's so sweet sometimes._

"You should be more careful you know!" Gajeel was back to sounding annoyed, but Levy could hear the concern in his voice.

After Gajeel had finished, Levy added. "Oh I found two the flowers we were looking for! It's right by that tree over there." Levy gestured to the plant which was indeed glowing in the fading summer light.

"Alright, I'll grab it for you and we can head back." Gajeel didn't want to take any more chances, he made his way to the flowers, collected it and together with Levy they made their way back towards the mansion.

When they had arrived inside, Eclaire was waiting for them. She was still on the same couch but this time a few maids were fanning her on either side.

"So you have finally returned have you?" Eclaire gestured to one of her waiters, who took a silver platter and held it in front of Levy.

"Here you go!" Levy cheerfully placed one of the flowers on the platter.

"Just one? Alright well they are very rare. Take your reward and leave" Eclaire sighed.

Gajeel looked at Levy and arched an eyebrow. Levy just gave a cheeky smile and winked at him.

_Haha, she's really something else. _Gajeel thought as he chuckled.

...

Gajeel finished explaining what had happened on the mission. Makarov looked very concerned, he was looking through a book that contained a record of all the known creatures of Fiore. He sighed and shut the book.

"A creature that can cause magic poisoning, not just in people but also to the surroundings. You were very lucky you know, if that spell was any closer than it was you might not have been here right now." Makarov looked very worried indeed.

"I'll report this to the magic council. Meanwhile, I ask that you keep this incident to yourself. We don't want any rumors to start spreading just yet." Makarov added. _And just after Fiore had begun to find peace. This doesn't bode well._

* * *

Elsewhere, five mages were locked in battle with what seemed to be shadow like monsters. They were just around three feet tall but they were very fast, attacking rapidly before retreating a few paces every time.

The battle was taking place in what was once a flower field not too far off from the city. The spells that were cast during the battle had dredged up the soil, Laxus' dragon slayer magic left scorch marks as far as the eye could see.

"We still haven't been able to find the source of their power!" Freed yelled as he cut through three monsters at once.

"Could you please stop that? It's making it worse!" Evergreen cut in. The monsters ate through their magic, multiplying with every hit.

"Yeah well you got a better idea!" Bickslow said as he dodged a blow aimed straight for his head.

"Calm down you three!" Laxus yelled, the numbers weren't in their favour. The only attacks that seem to have worked was his dragon slayer magic – but only when he obliterated the monster with his lightning. The only problem was that this took a lot of magical energy, and he knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer.

Suddenly, Freed let out a muffled scream as one of the monsters lunged at him. Before anyone could react, the surrounding monsters all converged to where Freed was once standing.

The monsters had a strange marking on its back which began to glow and Freed could feel his magic being drained away.

Laxus was drenched in sweat, trying to reach Freed but he knew he had little magic left.

"Freed!" Laxus yelled, reaching out to him with his right hand.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! **

**Also for those of you that might be wondering, the Queen of the Night is an actual flower that blooms at night!**


	5. A Battle begins

**And here's the next chapter! Thanks to a lovely review, I've managed to write and release it earlier than planned :)**

* * *

Everything went into slow motion, Freed could feel the life being drained out of him and a searing pain on his arm. He could just about make out Laxus' scream as the world slowly began to grow dark.

Suddenly – or rather miraculously – there was a bright flash of light that seemed to illuminate the battleground.

Laxus was pushed backwards by the sheer force of the spell that had been cast. As he squinted he could make out a large magic circle with an intricate incantation in the twilight sky above him. Many of the shadow monsters shrieked in agony as though the light was burning through them. They began to give off a strange pulse of magical energy before exploding into a burst of dark magical residue.

As the light began to fade and Laxus could finally see in front of him, Ruby Cillia was standing in the centre of the magic circle. Their eyes met and she winked at him.

"Not so bad for a mage that isn't even S class." Ruby had a cheeky smile on her face as she looked at Laxus' shocked face.

Laxus' mind was reeling as he processed what had just happened, and even though the battle wasn't over, he felt relieved somehow after seeing Ruby.

The yells from the shadow monsters forced him to break eye contact and look back towards the ones that still remained.

"Light drive sword!" Ruby yelled and a beam of light had appeared in her hand. The light formed a glowing sword that had black engravings on its hilt leading to the tip of the weapon.

Laxus eyed the battlefield, Freed was lying on the ground with a strange wound on his shoulder. Evergreen and Bickslow were standing not too far off from Freed, both hunched over and still out of breath.

"Evergreen, Bickslow, go to Freed and get him out of here!" Laxus shouted.

"Let's finish this!" Laxus looked back at Ruby and they both nodded in unison before charging at the remaining shadows.

As Laxus used his lightning, he couldn't help but be curious about Ruby's magic. She used a variety of spells, some of which shot blasts of black and white magic. The more powerful spells had a mixture of both light and darkness, seeming to obliterate the monsters in its wake. The sun's last rays were still peaking over the horizon but her magic seemed to light up the darkening sky. She conjured her sword from time to time, blocking the attacks before they could reach her. _I knew we should have brought her along form the beginning. _Laxus was entranced by her magic as she did a backflip to avoid another attack.

Ruby turned to look at Laxus, her eyes going wide as she yelled, "Laxus, behind you!"

Laxus turned around just in time to dodge one of the shadow monsters that attempted to strike him.

"That was a close call." Ruby looked concerned as she noticed Laxus had several wound on him. _Although he doesn't show it on his face, he must be in a lot of pain. _Ruby furrowed her eyebrows, thinking of Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen who were also scratched up pretty bad._ Freed's arm will take quite a while to heal…_

Ruby was getting out of breath, only a few shadow's remained but she knew the second the sun set the tides will be against them again.

"Lightning dragon roar!" Laxus blasted three monsters at one, still sweating profusely and growing increasingly tired.

"Dark drive burst!" Ruby shot a beam of black arrows at the remaining three shadow monsters.

Laxus looked around to check if they had missed any of them, after realising that the battle was finally over he felt his vision becoming blurry. He nearly collapsed onto the ground but Ruby had ran up to support him.

"Ughh… I'm at my limit." Laxus was lying with his head resting in Ruby's lap, he had been fighting at full capacity for the last hour and even with his immense stamina the battle had really drained him.

"Thanks for helping." he took her hand, his mind wondered back to the battle. _I really thought we were goners back there, if Ruby hadn't shown up when she did… _He shuddered at the thought.

Ruby bit her lip as she always did when she was worried. Evergreen and Bickslow should have gotten Freed to a hospital by now…

"You really should have been more careful you know…" Ruby's voice was laced with concern as her curly black locks fell in front of her. Laxus gave her a haphazard smile, his wounds from the attack must have caused mild magic poisoning.

"Take your shirt off." Ruby said in a matter of fact tone.

"Wait what?!" Laxus bolted up from where he was, suddenly feeling more alert.

Ruby chuckled and shot him a sly smile, "I'm a healing mage as well you know, those wounds are gonna give you some serious magic poisoning if you don't do anything now."

"Oh, right…" Laxus could feel his face getting hot. He did as instructed and lied on his back, noticing the smug smile on Ruby's face. _I really walked into that one now didn't I…_

Ruby couldn't help but notice how toned Laxus was, but the number of cuts on his torso made her increasingly concerned. The wounds were black with dense magic poisoning and were growing larger by the second. She placed her hands on the largest wound which was on the left of his chest and closed her eyes. After a letting out a breath a small grey magic circle formed and the wound turned white and began to glow.

Laxus could feel the pain being relieved as some of his strength began to return. When he looked at what once was a rather large wound, he could see his skin perfectly patched up, not even leaving a scar.

"How did you do that?" Laxus was surprised as he looked up at Ruby.

"Well I did say I can use healing magic you know, I also happen to be pretty good at it." Ruby looked proud but sounded a little shy at Laxus' praise.

She made quick work of his injuries. The colour had returned to Laxus' face, who looked much better than he did just a few moments ago.

"You probably felt drained before because magic poisoning takes away your magic." Ruby explained, she was glad the spell had worked successfully.

Laxus picked up his shirt that was covered in blood and was pretty cut up. He decided to just throw on his large, brown coat with light brown fur trimming around the edges.

"Hey, my coat kinda looks like yours." Laxus noticed the long red coat Ruby was wearing, which suited her dark red highlighted hair quite well.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ruby smiled gently as they both made their way back to Dawn city.

The night had finally come. One bright star glittered in the sky, refusing to give in to the darkness that spread around it.

* * *

The next day back in Magnolia, Lucy was sitting on her bed in her flat. She was still upset but feeling better since her conversation with Natsu.

"True strength huh… I never really thought about it that way. But still, I can't keep relying on other people forever." Lucy said to herself.

Lucy had thought about it time and time again, but she couldn't find a way to become powerful. She could get more celestial spirits and getting more silver but that would still mean relying on her spirits. She could improve her combat skills but against the powerful wizards and demons they faced it would do little damage. _Damn it! Why does it always end up this way?! _Lucy clenched her hands into fists in frustration.

"Well, I guess I should worry about it after I take a bath…" Lucy sighed at walked to her bathroom door. The second she opened it she screamed, backing up a few steps in surprise.

"You know, if you need some advice about combat magic, I would be more than willing to teach you." Erza was taking a bath in Lucy's tub as though it was the most natural thing to do, not even registering Lucy's shock.

"Also, you should try not to scream so loudly, I thought the window was going to break." Erza continued in a monotone voice.

"Well excuse me but this happens to be MY HOUSE!" Lucy was infuriated, this happened every time! Thank goodness Natsu hadn't tried sneaking in her bathroom but naked. _I'd actually kill him if he tried doing that. _Lucy put her hands on her hips and glared Erza who was still acting as though this was completely normal.

"Oh of course, my apologies. You are welcome to join me if you would like. Oh also, you should lock your window if you don't want visitors." Erza was enjoying her bath, something about Lucy's apartment seemed very cosy.

"You mean I should lock my door." Lucy rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore Erza's invitation.

"I'll just wait for you to finish." Lucy signed and went back to her couch.

After a while Erza joined Lucy in her living room, after a few moments of silence Erza started to pitch the mission idea to Lucy.

"Were you serious about getting stronger?" Erza was very direct when she spoke, choosing not to dance around the topic too much and get to the point.

"Of course, after all you know what happened in the last battle." Lucy's forlorn face had returned as she averted her gaze from Erza, choosing instead to look at the sunset outside her window. There was a bird's nest on the nearby tree, with a baby chick hopping on one of the branches. Hoping one day it might spread its wings and fly.

"Well, one should start by retrieving what they might have lost in battle." Erza continued, testing how Lucy would react.

"Yeah well whenever you see what's left of my dignity just give me a shout." Lucy gave a self-depreciating laugh.

"Lucy, be serious." Erza frowned, perhaps Lucy wasn't ready just yet after all.

"Seriously?! You think I wouldn't just get the Aquarius key if it was that simple!" Lucy shouted, losing her patience. She was frustrated and she wasn't sure what Erza was trying to get out of her.

"What if I told you there was a way to find out more about the golden key you lost." Erza studied Lucy's face carefully, she looked very sceptical.

"What are you talking about? That's impossible." Lucy didn't want to raise her hopes only to lose everything again.

"Well, I have a mission request to investigate a lost celestial temple. Lucy, I can't guarantee anything but I believe you may find the information you're so desperately searching for." Erza couldn't be sure that it would help, but it was worth a try.

"I know you've been studying in the guild archives, that was why I couldn't find anything there wasn't it." Erza had suspected it since she found a gap in the shelves where some of the records were supposed to be.

"It didn't mention anything about a celestial temple… just some old scripts." Lucy mumbled.

"Do you know about the existence of a celestial temple?" Erza inquired.

"Yeah, I think my mother mentioned it once when I was younger… but I don't remember anything about it." Lucy tried hard to remember what her mother had told her, but she was far to young and the memory wasn't clear.

"But… I would be willing to go on the mission if you'd let me." Lucy was hesitant, but then again, she didn't have anything to lose.

"Let's go back to the guild and prepare for the mission." Erza said as she got up to leave.

"Should I get Natsu and meet you there?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, that would be very helpful." Erza replied.

As Lucy walked outside, she saw the baby bird that she was watching from her window. It had jumped off the tall tree and began to fly.

* * *

Master Makarov was on his way to a Magic Council meeting that was being held in Crocus. He was sitting on the train, still thinking about what he had heard from Gajeel.

_At this rate, word's bound to get out. There could be a mass panic, especially since the people of Fiore are still dealing with the repercussions of the previous battle. _

The other wizard saints were going to attend, and for this particular meeting all of the guild masters had been invited as well.

"Hmmm, I sent Laxus a lacrima message before I left... I suppose Mirajane will have to take care of it." Makarov said to himself.

"Where had that boy been recently anyways...?" Makarov sighed.

"Oh! Hey there Master Makarov!" Sting walked over Makarov and sat oposite to him.

"Well well, the Sabertooth guild master has decided to come along this time has he?" Makarov noticed Sting seemed concerned, he sat with his arms crossed and brows furrowed as though something was bothering him.

"Yeah well last time I was preoccupied with some things..." Sting winced as he recalled the memory.

"Do you have anything to report to the council?" Makarov was curious if Sabertooth had also encountered any strange creatures, any information would prove very useful at this point.

"No… not really…" Sting averted Makarov's gaze, instead looking out the window.

"Umm... Have you seen Yukino by any chance?" String said abruptly, now turning to look at Makarov.

"No, I haven't I'm afraid." Makarov could see the disappointment on Sting's face.

"Ahh, I see. Well then I guess I'll leave it at that." Sting got up and left the carriage, Makarov watched him go, choosing not to say anything for now.

Sting walked into the next carriage, closing the door to the previous one which Makarov was still in.

_Yukino… Where did you go?_

…

It all started three months ago, spring had just arrived and Sabertooth was basking in the sun.

"Hey look who it is! Did you two have fun on your 'secret' mission you snuck off for last week?" Dobengal looked at the pair as they walked into the guild.

"You know I'm the guild master right? Would it kill you to call me 'Master' every now and then?" Sting was annoyed that despite him becoming the master quite some time ago, none of his guild mates ever took him seriously. Behind him, Yukino had almost turned red with embarrassment. All eyes of the guild seemed to be on them and unlike Sting, and she didn't like all the attention.

"Come on, give them a break. They went to investigate some strange reports near the coast." Minerva smiled as she entered the room in an elegant dark blue dress.

Before Sting could reply, a large blast could be heard in the distance, followed by shouts and screams.

Rogue kicked open the doors of the guild, walking straight up to Sting.

"We've got trouble! A group of people wielding some crazy magic started rampaging around the city!" As Rogue was speaking, a cloud of smoke rose from the nearby school.

"Damn it! Everyone, we're heading out! Rogue, Minerva, come with me to take down the assailants. Dobengal, Lector, Yukino, go evacuate the school. The rest of you! Help the people get to safety and take out any enemies you see!" Sting quickly came into action, barking orders so that they could minimise the damage.

The guild rushed outside to take down the attackers. Yukino, Lector and Dobengal made their way over to the school.

Yukino looked worried but at the same time felt very helpless. _He sent me to evacuate the school? Does he have so little faith in my abilities? _

Even on the mission, Sting had always done the heavy lifting and took out the beasts that had wondered into the nearby villages at triple the rate she could. _And that wasn't even me… my spirits were doing the work…_

Yukino gave a self-depreciating smile, Sting never showed of his power but as a white dragon slayer and an S class mage… Her magic always paled in comparison.

A shout brought Yukino out of her thoughts, the school had caught on fire and there were still people inside.

"Yukino! Summon Pisces and put out the fire!" Lector shouted before flying up to the top of the building to save some of the children trapped up there.

"I'll leave it to you!" Dobengal added before running towards the building.

"R..Right!" Yukino stuttered as she pulled out her golden key.

"Open Gate of the Paired Fish! Pisces!" Yukino called, a large golden magic circle formed above her.

When the two large fish appeared however, they also knocked down a nearby tree – which happened to have a young child right underneath it.

The child screamed but before the tree could fall on it, Lector swooped in and carried the child to safety.

"Careful Yukino!" Lector said before flying back to the smoking building.

_This isn't going well…_Yukino thought.

"Pisces, spray water into the school building and extinguish the flames." Yukino looked at both of the fish who were crammed into the small street space.

They sprayed the building with water, which swiftly took out the fire but there were bound to still be some people trapped inside.

"Pisces! Revert to your human form." Yukino had to yell because of how high up they were. Once in human form, the pair walked up to her.

"Let's go and help any people still trapped in there."Yukino added before walking into the still smouldering building.

"Mom, I'm not a big fan of the heat you know." The younger of the two complained before running in right after Yukino.

Meanwhile, Minerva, Rogue and Sting were facing off against a rather burly man with white hard and a white beard. Behind him stood a small army of assailants.

"I'll take the left." Minerva shouted.

"Then I'll take the right." Rogue grinned as he stepped towards the right.

"I guess that leaved you and me, old man." Sting looked in the dark eyes of the rather large man in front of him, all too aware of the city buildings that surrounded them.

"You dare challenge a dark guild boy? I have been a guild master for twenty years, I have no time to play with the likes of you!" The tall man didn't even bother mentioning his name as he started to charge through past Sting.

"Hold it right there!" Sting blocked his charge in its tracks. _Ok, most of the civilians that used to be here have fled, but many onlookers still remain. If we had more space this fight would be easy but... one wrong move might kill someone. _

"How about we settle this elsewhere?" Sting wanted to take the fight out of the city if he could.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" The large man snapped his fingers and a brown magic circle formed in front of him. A round of large, cannon like rocks fired towards Sting who immediately dodged with a backflip towards the left.

"You missed!" Sting shouted, but just a few milliseconds later he heard a large crash behind him.

"No, I don't think I did." The large man smirked as Sting looked behind him with wide eyes and saw a building start to topple over on a large crowd of onlookers.

Sting was almost frozen in place as he saw the looks of terror on the civilian's faces.

_Crap! _


	6. Beginnings

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and follows! Writing this story is really fun and I'm glad you guys are liking it :D**

**Well, here's the next chapter - enjoy!**

* * *

In the crowd of onlookers stood a young girl with long, light pink hair. Much like the crowd around her she was utterly terrified, watching the battle from afar as the dark guild stormed through the city.

Hiyori saw the rocks crash into the building above her and as the world seemed to go into slow motion, she knew that it was too late to run, too late to escape what was going to surely be her death.

She raised her left arm above her as though some instinct had kicked in.

"No!" Hiyori screamed into the air, shutting her eyes and waiting for large blow of pain to swallow her whole.

Yet after a few moments of nothing happening, and the crowd around her becoming eerily quiet, she finally opened her eyes in shock.

Sting watched with equally wide eyes at Hiyori's raised arm - above her was a large, neon pick magic circle that had shielded her and the surrounding crowd.

_What a stroke of luck! She doesn't look like a mage at all… that must have been her first magic spell. _Sting was impressed with the size of the spell – what had just happened was very rare indeed.

"That's something quite remarkable..." Sting murmured to himself. Before he could do much else, the dark guild master in front of him began charging at him again.

"You won't be as lucky this time!" The dark guild master yelled as he conjured yet another magic circle.

This time Sting was prepared, blocking the attack with one of his own. _Well, best not to let this drag on too much._

"White dragon's roar!" Sting used less power than he usually did, aiming the spell very carefully to avoid hitting any other buildings.

Upon impact, the dark guild master was shot backwards, clearing some of the other dark guild mages as he was pushed back by the white hot flames. The dark guild master was surely unconscious from the attack and Sting was hyper aware of the rather fragile looking shield that was blocking the debris from crashing into the remaining onlookers.

"Rogue! Minerva! I leave the rest to you!" Sting saw them both giving him a firm nod before he rushed off to help the civilians.

As he neared the group, he saw the young woman who had conjured the spell. She was wearing a light purple crop top with long sleeves and a dark denim skirt accompanied with plain black flats - it suited her pink hair perfectly.

Most of the onlookers had already ran out of the way but a small child no older than three years still stood under the shield, bawling loudly as he covering his eyes with his hands. Sting gently picked him up and carried him out of the way as quickly as he could. He looked back at the pink haired girl, her brows were furrowed and she looked rather pale. Sure enough, the magic circle was no longer as bright as it was when it was first cast, and it began to flicker more and more as the seconds went by.

The magic circle faded away completely but before the building debris came crashing down on her, Sting grabbed her arm and used a transportation spell to take her out of harm's way. Hiyori was now in his arms, leaning almost entirely on him and looking as though she would faint at any second.

"How are you feeling?" Sting looked down at her with a concerned gaze.

Hiyori looked up at him and gave a weak smile before blacking out.

Sting was quite alarmed when she suddenly fainted, looking around to see if her family might be somewhere nearby.

"Well they always did say you were a lady killer… I guess this was bound to happen someday." Minerva walked up to him with a sneaky smile on her face.

"C..Come on! Cut it out would you!" Sting took the unconscious girl and laid her on a nearby bench.

"He's right you know; this girl needs a doctor or something. Oh, we finished taking out the rest of the dark guild mages by the way." Rogue walked up to the two of them, joined by his exceed Frosch.

"Yukino's going to be so heartbroken." Frosch said when he noticed Sting sitting next to the pink haired girl.

"I thought she had a thing for Rogue actually." Minerva added in a scandalous voice, still teasing Sting.

As much as Sting wanted to stand there and argue with the two of them, Rogue was right – he needed to take the young woman to the hospital. Rolling his eyes at Rogue and Minerva, he picked her up from the bench and took her to the nearby hospital.

…

Unknown to Sting, Yukino was standing around the corner, listening in to the exchange taking place. She saw Sting carry a beautiful, pink haired woman bridal style off somewhere in the city.

_It's nothing, it's just some unconscious civilian…. But still… her magic spell was so large. _

Something in Yukino made her dislike the girl. Perhaps it was because of the way Sting looked at her with concern filled in his eyes, perhaps it was the way she had saved all those people without being an experienced mage. Perhaps it was because after all the events that had taken place in the recent past, she felt powerless.

Even today one might say she did more harm than good, the building that had caught on fire had in fact also collapsed just after she had taken the last civilian to safety.

_Maybe I just have bad luck…_

Yukino looked at Sting as he went out of sight. He felt so out of reach, especially at times like these.

…

Sting was waiting by the hospital bed that the pink haired girl was laid on. The doctor said she would wake up soon, putting an ice pack on her head before he left.

Hiyori opened her eyes slowly; her head was pounding but she forced herself to sit up. She immediately noticed a gorgeous young man sitting by her hospital bed. _I must be hallucinating... _She thought.

"Hi there! I'm Sting, Sabertooth's guild master." Sting looked at her expectantly.

_"_Oh right, I'm Hiyori." Hiyori looked at Sting curiously – he was a guild master but he was only a year or so older than herself.

"I wanted to thank you for helping out back there! You don't look like a mage – was that you're first spell?" Sting was very curious about what her magic type was, perhaps her parents were mages (which would certainly explain how her spell seemed to be quite powerful).

"I.. umm yeah it was my first spell, I guess. I don't really know what happened, I just wanted to save the people around me and the next thing I knew was that there was a huge magic circle above me." Hiyori's mind was still reeling from the ordeal, still exhausted from everything that had happened.

"We could use more people like you in the guild you know! I can help you find out more about your magic. But first we have to do a lot of work to rebuilt everything again – the city entrance is in shambles and..." Before Sting could continue, Hiyori started crying uncontrollably...

She had lived in the city for the past year and had so far never had to experience any form of danger as she did today. The smashed-up building where the battle was unfolding happened to be her flat.

"I'm sorry, it's just that one of the buildings that was destroyed happened to be my flat…" Hiyori half whispered between sobs.

"I… I'm sorry I should have been more considerate." Sting said as he inwardly cursed himself.

"It's not your fault, you did stop the dark guild after all." Hiyori said as she rubbed her now puffy eyes.

_Hmm well she knows about dark guilds, I guess word must have gone around since the last major battle _Sting thought.

"No, I'm the guild master... The responsibility for what happened falls on my shoulders." Sting shook his head, he had been telling himself the same thing ever since the Tartaros battle, maybe even ever since he first became guild master. Feeling responsible for Hiyori losing her house, he did what any other decent guild member would have done.

"I know everything must be really confusing right now, you just found out you're a mage and you've also lost your home. Sabertooth wasn't well known for being the loving and supported guild, but I hope that by new members like yourself joining, we can make it a guild we can all be proud of." Sting looked at Hiyori's red eyes, feeling guilty for what she had been through.

"I don't even know anything about guilds though…" Hiyori trailed off.

"Well you saved a bunch of people today with your spell. I'd say your halfway there already." Sting gave her a bright smile, hoping it would lighten the mood.

"I would love to try it." Hiyori suddenly felt very shy; she knew was a mage but didn't know which direction to go in from here on out.

"I'm sure the guild will love you." Sting replied cheerily.

* * *

**~Present day~**

Lucy walked up the cottage tucked into the forest of Magnolia. The fresh air was very relaxing, especially since she spent a lot of time cooped up in her flat recently. She could smell the cut grass and wildflowers as she walked up to Natsu's house. Despite what you'd think, his garden was pretty well maintained, with some pure white roses lining the sides of the door.

_Aww I love white roses! I wonder when Natsu planted them in his garden…_

Lucy knocked on the door, but when she didn't hear an answer, she decided to just walk straight in.

_He barges in on me all the time, I think it's fair to get a little revenge every now and then. _Lucy chuckled to herself as she stepped into Natsu's house.

"Natsu? Are you there?" Lucy stepped inside carefully, half expecting Natsu to jump out at her from behind a door or something.

Her eyes wandered to the table in the middle of the room. As Lucy walked towards it, she could see the remains of some food lying here and there. There also seemed to be a series of very delicate and old looking books sprawled across the table.

When she looked more carefully, she saw that the books were all about what holder type magic is and how celestial mages cast spells and summon spirits – essentially it was all about the type of magic that she used.

_What?! Natsu read a book! _Lucy couldn't believe her eyes, yet in front of her was what looked like hours on hours of work. Her heart warmed as she realised that he must have been worried about her.

"Natsu." Lucy whispered into the empty room.

From the messy table to the warm fireplace, everything in the house reminded Lucy of Natsu. It's as though his bright, fiery smile was imprinted on everything in the room.

"Well, he must have gone to the guild already." Lucy decided it would be best to just head there herself. She also thought it would be best to apologise for her long absence. After all, she knew just how worried everyone must be.

…

Meanwhile Erza was walking in Magnolia park, admiring the newly planted sunflowers that bordered the central fountain. She spotter Jellal sitting in the shade of a nearby tree and walked towards him.

"It's not often you come to places like these." Erza looked at Jellal questioningly, he usually avoided coming to public places.

"Yeah well, we realised it was getting hard avoiding people everywhere we went so I thought I'd just make a special cloaking spell to make things easier." Jellal said casually as though he was talking about the weather.

"You created a spell on your own?!" Erza was very impressed, creating a spell was no easy feat, even for an S class mage.

"Well, the other members of Crime Sorciere also helped." Jellal chuckled as he saw Erza's surprised face.

"It's pretty straightforward, everyone can see us but most people only see a disguised version of ourselves – so for example when people look at me, they see someone around my height with black hair and brown eyes." Jellal explained how the spell works, trying to keep his voice down so no one else heard.

"And for some people you can choose to let them see you as you are? That's pretty interesting…. Still, I'm a little curious to see what you'd look like with black hair." Erza arched an eyebrow, she had always seen Jellal with blue hair ever since she'd known him.

"Trust me, it's not a good look…" Jellal trailed off.

"So, what did Lucy say?" Jellal had asked Sawyer and Macbeth to go on ahead to Shirotsume to do some scouting, but if Lucy didn't want to take part then things would get really difficult.

"Yeah, she agreed to come along… are you coming with us?" Erza sat next to Jellal, enjoying the cool summer breeze.

"I'll come along with Meredy and we'll meet with Sawyer and Macbeth when we get there. The rest of the team is staying here since we don't want to attract too much attention by traveling in a large group." Jellal wanted this to be a discrete mission. If other people found out about the temple and tampered with it, it could end up becoming sealed away forever.

Jellal took in the smell of the vibrant flowers that were spread around him, the sun was shining bright that day and the people living in Magnolia were enjoying their new found peace.

_I hope it stays this way. _He thought inwardly.

"How about we meet up at the train station tomorrow to catch the train?" Erza suggested.

"Yeah that should work just fine." Jellal noticed Erza looked a bit antsy.

"Is something wrong?" He added.

"Well, when I was speaking to Lucy, she seemed a little hesitant. I just don't want her to be disappointed if it doesn't go as planned." Erza was still worried about Lucy, and as much as she wanted to go on the mission with Jellal, she was still sceptical.

"Well, I think I have just the thing for that." Jellal delved into his pocket and pulled out a four leafed clover.

"For extra luck." Jellal smiled as he gave it to Erza.

"Haha thanks, we'll need it. Where did you find it anyways?" Erza gladly accepted the four leafed clover, it was almost like a sign that things would work out in the end.

"Oh well… I just found it in the park a while ago." As Jellal looked at Erza's smiling face, he wanted to engrave the image in his mind. Jellal had actually gotten to the park early in the morning and had since searched almost the whole day before he actually found it.

_It was definitely worth it. _Looking at Erza now, he knew that he would gladly search the whole month if it would mean seeing Erza's happy face. After all, Erza always had a rather stern look on her most of the time. _But that's also adorable in its own way… _Jellal looked at Erza's earnest expression, feeling as though he could never get bored of gazing into her beautiful dark brown eyes.

"I should head back to the guild. Lucy and the rest are probably waiting." Erza noticed the look on Jellal's face, but thought it would be better to leave that discussion for later given that they were talking about an important mission. She carefully put the clover into her pocket, knowing she would treasure it forever. _The first gift Jellal has ever given me… Somehow it makes me feel excited. _

"Oh. Right, of course. I'll see you tomorrow then." Jellal took Erza's right hand and gently kissed it. He saw Erza's face turn as red as her hair and chuckled lightly.

"Until next time." Jellal let go of her hand and started walking out of the park. Leaving her seemed to get more difficult every time, but there was still a lot of work still to be done.

Erza on the other hand was still frozen in place, Jellal always had a habit of making her heart race.

She sighed before turning towards the guild hall. _Well, he always knows how to make an exit. _A smile danced on her face as she walked in the warm afternoon sun.

…

Back at the guild hall, there was yet another fight taking place.

"Flame brains! For the LAST time, I don't know anything else about the mission!" Gray fired some ice missiles at Natsu who melted them with his flames.

"Happy heard you talking to Erza! I'm not an idiot you know!" Natsu had a fist full of fire and was chasing Gray around the guild.

"Well, not a total idiot anyways." Cana said as she rolled her eyes.

Before the fight got too out of hand, there was another loud yell that boomed through the guild hall.

"Will the both of you please cut it out!" To Natsu and Gray's surprise, it wasn't Erza who was glaring at them, but actually Lucy who had taken out her whip and looked ready to fire.

_Well, it's a good thing Lucy seems back to normal. _Natsu was inwardly relieved.

Before anyone else could do anything, the doors of the guild opened to reveal Erza marching in with some train tickets in her hand.

"Lucy, Natsu and Gray! Get in the guild library." Erza's commanding voice rang through the guild hall.

"But-" Before Natsu could finish protesting, Erza cut in.

"Now." Erza's stern voice silenced Natsu and the group made their way to the guild library.

"Gray, what did you and Loki find?" Erza said as soon as she closed the door.

"Almost nothing actually, its almost as though someone else had taken all the material about celestial magic already." Gray looked at Lucy expectantly who shook her head.

"Actually, I don't have them either." Lucy saw the surprised look on Gray and Erza's face.

"Natsu has them actually." She added.

"WHAT?!" Gray and Erza said in unison.

"No way! As if Natsu would actually read a book." Gray scoffed in disbelief.

He looked at Natsu's slightly red ears and his eyes became as wide as saucers. Erza just smiled, thinking that it was actually very adorable for Natsu to put in the effort.

"Well then, did you find anything useful Natsu?" Erza enquired.

"Well there isn't much detail about anything regarding celestial temples, except that they are very rare to find and are usually enchanted so that mages can't use magic when inside." Natsu replied, noticing how everyone in the room was still staring at him.

"Come on! It's not that much of a shock you know." Natsu grunted.

"I see. Well I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves." Erza made a note to relay the information to Jellal at some point. Just as Natsu was trying to slip past her unnoticed, she grabbed his collar.

"And another thing. Don't mention this mission to anyone else. Jellal said that if someone tampered with the temple sight then it could become permanently sealed away." Erza looked straight at Natsu, he had a tendency to get into trouble and they needed to be cautious.

"I'll meet you all at the train station tomorrow." She said as she handed everyone their tickets.

"The train…. Ughhhh." Natsu was already looking green but he knew he had to go on this mission no matter what. He would never admit it out loud but the second he heard about the mission from Happy, he half sprinted to the guild hall to know more. This mission had to be a success at all costs.

_For Lucy. _


	7. A Mystery Unravels

It was a cloudy day in dawn city, a chilly wind blew past the tall, ancient buildings.

Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen were still in hospital recovering, Laxus stood by the window of their hospital room, looking out at the abandoned streets.

Whilst it may have seemed as though the monsters had been defeated; it was unfortunately not the case. Laxus looked back at his injured teammates and creased his eyebrows. Things had certainly taken a turn for the worst.

He walked into an empty hospital room, with its crisp white sheets and pale-yellow walls. The air smelt sterile with a faint smell of disinfectant still in the air. The only colour in the room came from the small balcony outside the room which had flowers bordering the perimeter.

Ruby was standing on the edge of the balcony with her feet dangling over the edge, she turned around as Laxus walked in and gave him a pressed smile.

"Did you find anything?" Laxus asked as he walked up to her.

"Yeah, it turns out there's a deeper mystery coming into play here." Ruby looked concerned as the wrung her hands together.

"They are called Obscurums. They originate from an incantation spell and unless we destroy the source, they wont stop coming." Ruby continued.

Laxus was quite perplexed from what Ruby had found. Incantation spells are a form of dark magic that's typically used to summon demons and monster. For this particular spell, not only would the source have to be somewhere near the city, but the Obscurums must have also been awakened by a mage.

_A mage powerful enough to cast a spell like this… It must have been someone who knows how to use dark magic well. But why would someone want to attack Dawn city of all places?_

"We need to do something fast." Laxus whispered under his breath.

"I think we should track down an Obscurum and follow it back to where it came from." Ruby looked back at the city streets with a forlorn expression.

The market stalls had all been abandoned, the people who lived here were too afraid to come out of their own homes. She remembered just a few weeks ago how people would flood the streets as they bartered various items from the stalls. The road looked like an explosion of colour from the exotic fruit to the regal clothes that were displayed for everyone to admire.

"How about the two of us go back to that field where we last saw them?" Laxus asked with an easy-going smile, hoping to get a lead.

"Sounds like a plan." Ruby still looked upset, but the sooner they could find an Obscurum, the sooner everything could return to normal.

Sure enough, when the pair went back to the field where the last battle had taken place, they found three Obscurums near the dirt road nearby. The two of them were new crouched behind a thick bush which hid them as they observed the Obscurums.

"Seems like they've gotten larger after last time." Laxus whispered.

"They must grow when they absorb magic energy." Ruby replied.

Ruby turned to look at him and realised Laxus was mere inched away from her face. He looked straight at her and for some reason Ruby felt her face begin to redden.

_That's way too close!_

She half jumped backwards but ended up landing on a bunch of dry branches. She could see Laxus' smirk as he tried to stifle his laughter. As she rolled her eyes, she noticed one of the Obscurum had stopped moving and seemed to be looking straight at her. She froze in place, praying that they would go unnoticed but the monster slowly began to move towards them.

Laxus grabbed her arm and yanked her towards a large tree nearby. The Obscurum's movement seemed slower than before, with its feet hitting the ground with a loud thud every time.

Ruby could hear the Obscurum's ragged breathing as it stood where she and Laxus were once crouched. She held her breath, not daring to see how close they were to the monster.

After a few moments passed, they heard the Obscurum start to move again but didn't move until they couldn't hear it anymore.

"Thank goodness." Ruby let out a sigh and looked visible relieved.

"You should be more careful you know." Laxus murmured as he grinned at Ruby.

Ruby just noticed that he had pinned her against the tree and despite herself, she found herself grinning back at him.

"And who's fault is that again? I seem to remember a certain someone finding this mission as an opportunity to try and flirt with me." Ruby said coolly.

"I'm not so sure, I'd say it's working pretty well." Laxus had a mischievous glint in his eye as he looked at Ruby.

A loud screech came from nearby interrupted the moment. It seemed like the Obscurums were on the move.

"Let's follow them." Ruby's eyes were trained on the monsters once again.

They had kept to the foliage as much as possible as they followed the Obscurums. After a few minutes they had made it to the beaches near Dawn city.

"Why have they come here?" Laxus surveyed the area, apart from the beach, there were two medium sized islands off the coast, one was an arch and the other seemed to spike out of the sea like a small mountain.

"I'm not so sure. There aren't any underwater caved nearby and those rock formations there have never been inhabited." Ruby looked closely as the Obscurums walked along the beach.

"Let's get a closer look." Laxus went from where they stood by the trees and crouched behind a large boulder that was on the beach.

The Obscurums went into the water as they made their way to the stone arch island. They looked like black jet streams as they dived underwater, leaving no traces of their existence behind.

They went up to the giant archway and after a brief flash of light, they disappeared.

"Did you just see that?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Something's not right here…." Laxus walked up to the shore and looked at the large stone arch in front of him.

"Is it just me, or does the rock look almost back?" Laxus said as he gestured towards the small island.

"It does look strange." Ruby replied.

After taking a small boat to the island, they stood in front of the arch. Ruby put her right hand through the door like hole in the black stone, but nothing happened.

"Well, that's a bit anti-climactic." Ruby sighed.

"Maybe it needs to be activated? It looked like some type of portal." Laxus looked at the border of the arch, but it was covered with plants.

"There seems to be some writing on this side!" Ruby was on the left of the arch, gesturing at what looked like a faint engraving in the stone.

Laxus tore away some of the ivy wrapping the stone and sure enough, there seemed to be some form of writing along the border of the arch.

"But how does it work?" Laxus didn't recognise the language – and one wrong move could end up with the whole thing blowing up in their faces – quite literally for that matter.

"How about we try putting in some magical energy into it?" Ruby looked somewhat confident, but they didn't really have any other options to go with.

"Alright, I trust you." Laxus gave a small smile as he put his hand on the strange writing just like Ruby had.

The arch once again burst into life, giving off a strangely dim grey light. They were both so close that this time, they could see the spell properly. It was indeed a grey magic circle but it was more elongated than usual, one half was facing them and the other half was bent over on the other side of the archway.

"Well, should we finish what we started?" Laxus asked as he looked at Ruby.

"Let's go in together." Ruby smiled and they both walked into the portal together.

After they had stepped in, the writing of the magic circle suddenly changed. Now it was glowing black, and the once lush green plants on the small island changed into a sickly black colour before they turned into ash.

* * *

**~A few months ago, Sabertooth~**

The city was a mess. The newly reconstructed building had been destroyed anew from the battle with the dark guild. The dam that had blocked the water from the nearby river had broken, the flood water remained a foot high in the nearby streets and an increasingly large number of people had begun to accumulate outside the city hall. Some were looking for shelter, others were looking at who to blame for their lives being torn apart yet again by the dangers of misusing magic.

Sting had just come back from a series of meetings with the town mayor and in the guild hall, he was greeted by his guild members who were still exhausted from the battle.

"Sting! How did the meeting go? I was wondering if you could help sort out the reconstruction plans for the church..." Yukino had a bright smile as usual, but after looking at Sting's tired face, she began to trail off.

"Um, I'm a bit busy at the moment with the work from the mayor. How about you ask Rogue to help you out?" Sting had a to do list with around a hundred things on it, not that he really wanted to do them anyways.

Truth be told he wanted to forget about the work he had to do, secretly hoping Yukino would insist on working with him and they could spend the afternoon together like they used to before.

"Alright then, I'll go ask Rogue for help." Yukino looked even more cheery than before, if that was even possible.

"I can help you with your work if you want." Hiyori chimed in as she leaned on Sting's shoulder to get a look at the list Sting was holding.

"Thanks Hiyori, that would help a lot." Sting gave a gentle smile as he saw Hiyori's eagerness.

"I'm sure guild master work will be a bit too complex for you Hiyori, you need to know more about magic first." Yukino couldn't help but feel annoyed at Hiyori, who seemed to be with Sting constantly whenever he was at the guild.

"It's alright, this might be the best way for you to learn." Sting knew Hiyori worked at the city research centre before, so she would be very useful at helping him with the stacks of paperwork he had to get through.

As Hiyori followed Sting into his office, Yukino couldn't help but feel annoyed.

_Why is he ok with her being there the whole time? I know she's new to the guild but that doesn't mean she can just cling on to him! _Yukino sighed, jealousy seemed to feel like an all-consuming flame that was eating her up.

_I'll just have to show him the difference between an experienced mage and a new one. _Yukino thought that if she just wowed everyone with her magical power then Sting would give up his attachment to the fledgling mage once and for all.

On her way she noticed the school building that had been destroyed in the battle, a middle-aged man with light blond hair stood at the tattered entrance.

"Are you alright sir?" Yukino asked the man.

"I'm a teacher at this school you know, I was just so upset seeing it was destroyed by some mage." The man replied.

"What mage? It was reported that this building collapsed because of poor structural integrity." Yukino was confused to say the least, she was curious about why this teacher thought it was done on purpose.

"What? No, I was here just before the building collapsed. There was a large magic circle around the back here." He pointed towards the back of the building and there was indeed a faint mark of a magic circle that could be traced on the building.

"What did the magic circle look like? Do remember the colour?" Yukino knew each magic type had a unique colour associated with the person. It was often used to track down criminals.

"Ahh well I'm not quite sure… it was either a neon pink magic circle or it could have been a neon …" before he could continue, Yukino interrupted.

"You should go to the city council and report this! They can help catch the real culprit." Yukino looked at the broken building, slightly relieved that it wasn't her fault the building collapsed.

_Neon pink just like Hiyori's. I knew there was something wrong about her! No mage can ever conjure a magic circle that large for their first spell. She must have known she could do magic… But why would she lie?_

"How about I meet you there tomorrow." Yukino added before she left back towards the guild hall.

…

Back in Sting's office, there were stacks and stacks of papers and files, with a depressed Sting behind the largest heap of paper.

"I thought this would get easier after time, but the works only gotten harder." Sting was frustrated with himself. He had chosen to take on the responsibility of guild master but didn't know that this would be the consequence. The magic council was always breathing down his neck and he had a lot of bills to pay for the damages some of the people in the guild inadvertently caused.

"What do you think of this?" Sting gave Hiyori a piece of paper. After a few moments, Hiyori's eyes widened and she looked back up at Sting.

"The reward for this is insane!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, the bigger the reward, the more impossible it is to do." Sting was amused at Hiyori's still shocked face.

"It says here that if you make a defence spell that can protect the whole city, the reward will be ten million Jewels!" Hiyori looked very excited as she finished reading the letter.

"My magic focuses more on attach rather than defence… It's actually part of the reason I was so glad I found a mage like you. Together we might actually be able to make a spell that powerful." Sting was glad Hiyori was so eager. If this worked out then the guild wouldn't have to worry about their money problems for a long while.

"Well, if it means protecting everyone, I'd love to try. I'm not sure how helpful I will be though." Hiyori started to fiddle with her hair, as she often did when she was nervous.

"Are you kidding me? You are probably the only person that could make this whole thing work!" Sting gave her a bright smile.

Before he could continue, Minerva ran into the office.

"Sting, we've got trouble." She said before turning back towards the door.

"What happened?" Sting rushed out after her to see a woman in her early thirty's in the entrance, clutching a small child with her right hand.

"Do you know who I am?" The woman demanded.

"I'm afraid I don't. However, if you could tell us what your problem is, we would be more than happy to help you." Sting said as politely as possible.

"I'm Alex Smith! One of your guild members – Yukino Agria – nearly murdered my son!" half yelled, half screamed at Sting.

"I'm sure there's been a misunderstanding. Yukino would never do anything like that." Sting said in a calm voice.

"I saw it myself! That mage Yukino had summoned two terrifyingly large monsters and they knocked over a large tree! My son was frozen in fear, he was seconds away from being killed!" She was close to tears, and when Sting looked into her eyes, he didn't see any malice or ill intent. He saw the fear of a mother who had very nearly witnessed her son's death.

"It's true. Yukino summoned Pisces to take out the fire and they knocked over a tree… I managed to swoop in and save that kid but it was a pretty close call." Lector felt guilty for admitting what had happened, but it was also true that they should have been more careful.

Sting looked at him with wide eyes, they hadn't mentioned anything about the incident so far and he was surprised by the revelation. He wanted to apologise to but he couldn't bear to look at her face. Her son was no more than three years old and far too young to be thrown into such danger.

"Where is that mage! Yukino Agria! I demand for her to face the consequences of what she did!" was clearly still distraught, but the only response Sting could give was silence. Her soon stood next to her, almost hiding behind his mother. He looked very pale and had an empty look in his eyes.

"It wasn't Yukino's fault." To everyone's surprise, it was Hiyori who spoke up.

"She was only trying to help put out the fire. I know I wasn't there, and I have no right to be speaking to you like this, but everyone in this guild has worked hard to protect this city." Maybe it was because Hiyori felt strangely at home in the guild, maybe it was because Sting had shown her a great deal of kindness after she had lost everything, but she knew she had to say something.

"I know that we should have been more careful, but Lector did save your son. He's part of our guild and like everyone else, we were just trying to help." Hiyori wanted to be the voice of reason. After all, whilst that moment could have ended up a tragedy, it wasn't intentional.

"Don't think I won't be reporting your guild! You won't get away with this so easily!" Alex Smith picked up her son, hugging him tightly as she walked out of the guild hall.

"Thanks, Hiyori." Sting whispered.

"What are friends for." Hiyori replied.

After a few minutes the doors of the guild hall opened again, this time it was Yukino who walked into the room.


	8. Mistakes

**Hi again! I thought I'd finish off the Sabertooth plot line today :D**

**Slightly early update this week... I'll see if I can keep it up for next week but no promises _**

* * *

"Hi everyone!" She said cheerily before noticing the tense mood in the room.

"Yukino, I need to speak with you." Sting said in a rather serious tone.

"Oh, if it's about the reconstruction work, I just thought I'd grab my…" Yukino looked back at Sting's harsh gaze, it felt like his eyes saw right through her as she trailed off.

"It's important." Sting said before turning sharply and walking back into his office.

Yukino followed on, noticing how the eyes of everyone in the guild hall seemed to be on her. She glared at Hiyori, thinking she must have gotten wind of what she was trying to do and had something to do with this.

She closed the door behind her after she went into Sting's office and sat in the small chair opposite his.

Sting leaned forward, and looked Yukino straight in the eye.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Sting asked in a harsher voice than he meant.

_Please Yukino, be honest with me. _He trusted Yukino with his life, and he thought they were very good friends. If she had told him before, it could have been handled differently. As things were now, Yukino might end up in a world of trouble – even if it was all just an accident.

"I don't get it. What exactly are you referring to?" Yukino was wondering what the oppressive atmosphere in the guild hall was about. Perhaps they had already found out about Hiyori?

"Don't lie to me Yukino, just tell me what happened. I'll take care it I promise, but the only one who knows exactly what happened is you." Sting looked at Yukino expectantly, hoping that she trusted him enough to tell him.

"It was Hiyori! I heard it myself, she's been lying to us you know. She isn't actually a new mage!" Yukino blurted out. Sting said he would take care of it and she believed him, he had obviously caught on that she isn't who she says she is.

"What on earth are you talking about?! What does Hiyori have to do with any of this? Yesterday when you summoned one of your spirits, it knocked down a tree which nearly killed a young child!" Sting raised his voice but he didn't look angry. In fact, he looked very disappointed.

"What on earth are you talking about?! What does Hiyori have to do with any of this? Yesterday when you summoned one of your spirits, it knocked down a tree which nearly killed a young child!" Sting raised his voice but he didn't look angry. In fact, he looked very disappointed. Accidents can happen, but he always believed if Yukino ever needed anything, she would come to him.

Yukino was taken aback, not expecting Sting to react like that. She had actually forgotten about the incident entirely.

"Well about that… I forgot to report it actually." Yukino wasn't sure how to respond, she thought the incident might go by unnoticed. Now Sting really did look angry as he stood up suddenly and hit the table with his right fist.

"You forgot? That child's mother came by today. She told me what happened – to think I didn't even know about this as the guild master until someone else had to tell me. Do you understand what the repercussions for what happened might be?" Sting's role as guild master meant that all responsibility for such incidents went to him. He couldn't pretend that there wasn't a very real chance that a child could have died. Accident or not, there was no acceptable excuse for what could have happened.

"I'm sorry ok! I know I should have been more careful but Lector saved him, didn't he? You should be focusing more on Hiyori. You won't believe what I found out about her today; she's been lying to all of us!" Yukino had a bad feeling she knew where this conversation might be going and she desperately tried to deflect the blame.

"Someone could have died Yukino! What part of that don't you understand?! If this gets reported then the city council could have you removed from the guild. Why are you blaming Hiyori for this? She wasn't even involved." Sting didn't expect such and outburst from Yukino, it was so unlike her.

_Why doesn't she understand? If this gets reported I'll have no choice but to remove her from the guild! I need to stop this but I still don't understand what exactly happened. _

"Hiyori is involved! What type of mage conjures a spell that large if it's only her first spell?! Why do you keep defending her?" Yukino was angry at everything that had happened. Jealousy just added fuel to the flames and even though she knew she barely had any evidence; she knew she had to say something.

"Seriously? Hiyori was the one who stood up to defend you. She talked to and explained that it wasn't true." Sting just wanted answers, but it seemed like the more questions he asked the more complex things were getting.

"I'll prove it to you! Come with me." Yukino said before leaving for the city hall.

Soon enough Yukino, Sting, Minerva and Hiyori were in an office at city hall. It was a dimly lit room with bookshelves lining the walls. There was one large window in the middle of one of the walls and in front of it was a very old looking desk. Behind the desk was the city mayor, who wore a plain grey suit with a white shirt. It seemed to match his grey hair and black eyes very well, he looked visibly exhausted but managed to give a small smile after they had all taken their seats.

"Now then, I hope you do have a good reason for coming here master Sting." His voice was almost monotone as he picked up his glasses to examine the piece of paper that was in front of him.

"We were investigating the cause of the school building collapse; I don't think it was a mage from my guild that was responsible." Sting didn't know what Yukino had to say, but the bill for the school reconstructions had been sent to him, and it was a very large sum indeed.

"I spoke to a teacher that was there when it collapsed! He said he saw a magic circle forming on the back of the building straight before it happened. I'm sure whoever cast that spell was the one responsible." She said as she eyed Hiyori's reaction to what she had said.

"Well, who do you thing could have done such a thing? Was it a member of the dark guild?" The mayor replied as he furrowed his brows.

Yukino bit her lip, the teacher that she met wasn't here yet and he was the only eye witness. Still, she remembered Sting's harsh gaze from before as he confronted her about that day.

"The teacher said that he saw a neon pink magic circle. It must have been Hiyori who did the spell." Yukino looked at Hiyori whose eyes widened as she spoke.

"What? How could I have done it? I didn't even know I could do any magic until that day." Hiyori looked slightly pale as all eyes were now on her.

"Seriously Yukino? Hiyori wasn't even anywhere near there. That was the time I was fighting the dark guild master and she was nearly killed." Sting was slightly annoyed at Yukino's lack of trust in Hiyori, she was after all a new mage who had lost everything she had in the recent battle.

"Do you have any proof?" Minerva looked sceptical but thought it was worth investigating the claim.

"That teacher saw it himself. Besides, you need to think about it – what mage can have such a large magic circle for her first spell? It's just not possible." Yukino could see Sting falter as he considered the possibility.

"It was my first spell! In case you didn't realise, I could only keep it up for two minutes before it faded away and I blacked out straight after!" Hiyori stood up to defend herself, she had been in the hospital for hours and had nearly been killed herself when her spell faded away.

"How do we know we can even trust you?" Yukino looked at her sceptically.

Realising Sting and Minerva weren't coming to her defence any time soon, Hiyori got up and glared at Yukino.

"Well I clearly can't trust any of you! Thanks to your guild, my house was completely destroyed. I only had ten jewels in my pocket and I even lost my job! All I wanted to do was help the people around me, but all you ever seem to do is hurt people!" Hiyori and Yukino both looked like they could explode at any second.

"That's enough! Both of you, just calm down." Sting went between them, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Yukino, do you have any physical evidence?" Sting looked at the two of them.

As if on cue, the doors of the office opened and the school teacher walked in carrying a silver lacrima orb.

"I have the evidence; this should show us what happened on the street that day." The larcima he was holding could replay the events that happened on the street that day.

As he played the events which were projected into the room, there was no sign of Hiyori anywhere near the building. When they got to the part where the building collapsed, the screen was paused in place.

"But…" Yukino looked at the screen in shock.

As Sting studies the hazy screen more closely, there was indeed a magic circle on the building. But it wasn't neon pink - it was neon blue.

_Neon blue? But that's the colour of Yukino's spells..._

Sting felt numb as he looked at the screen. _There must be some mistake! This just can't be true_...

He wanted to deny it, and yet right in front of him was proof that Yukino was responsible._ I don't understand.. of all things, h__ow could she blame Hiyori for doing this?!_

"See, I had a feeling it may not have been pink. No one gets the blame now! So how about we just focus on fixing the building." The teacher said in a cheery voice, still not understanding what had happened.

"It wasn't me. Isn't neon blue the colour of your magic, Yukino?" Hiyori confronted Yukino who was still staring at the screen.

"I've had enough. Will both of you please stop this! Pointing the blame at other people will only make this worse. Especially you, Yukino." Sting had gotten tired of the constant back and forth arguing.

"I couldn't agree more, master Sting." The city mayor finally spoke.

"You'll have to dismiss Yukino Agria, effective immediately." He continued.

"What? What did I do?" Yukino exclaimed as Sting grew increasingly pale.

"We have seen the report of the child you nearly killed, on top of that you accused someone else of destroying the school building when you were in fact the person responsible. It is simply unacceptable for a mage to behave in this way, and the damages to the city because of your guild are too great to ignore." The mayor said simply.

"I'm sure there's some way we can work around this." Sting appealed to the mayor.

"May I remind you that you owe us a debt of five million jewels already. When do you intend to pay back the locals for the damages?" The mayor pressed on.

Sting could only look away, whilst he wanted so badly to argue with the mayor, what he said wasn't entirely wrong. Even now, the shouts of the city dwellers could be heard from where he stood as they pilled into the city hall entrance. His hands were officially tied.

Yukino ran out of the room and after Minerva elbowed Sting in the ribs, he chased after her.

Yukino had run out to the nearby gardens, stopping by the central statue of the town founder. The statue read 'In Magicae Speramus' which was Latin for 'in magic we trust'. Yukino looked up at the overbearing statue, close to tears.

"Why did you do it?" Sting asked.

"If you had come to me first, it wouldn't have been this bad." Sting clenched his fists, frustrated that even though he was guild master, he still couldn't protect the people in his guild. He had mistrusted Hiyori when she was accused of destroying the school, and now, try as he may, he couldn't stop the city council from forcing Yukino to leave the guild.

"As if I could come to you. All you seem to be care about is Hiyori." Yukino knew that she had gone too far by jumping to conclusions, and now Hiyori's innocence had turned into her living nightmare.

"She didn't do it. You saw for yourself when we looked at the evidence." Sting was getting frustrated, it was one thing to mistrust someone, but accusing them for sabotage… things had really gotten out of hand.

"Well it seems you got what you wanted. I'm leaving." Yukino's anger had gotten the better of her as she stormed off away from Sting.

_It's alright, all I have to do is complete the request for the new spell. After we've payed the debt and things calm down, I'm sure the mayor will let us reinstate Yukino as a member of the guild._

Sting had hoped things would calm down soon enough, but little did he know that it wasn't so simple.

Back at the guild, Minerva and Hiyori came into Sting's office as he was sorting out one of the many stacks of paper.

"Master Sting, I came here to inform you that I'm leaving the guild." Hiyori said as soon as she entered the room.

"What? Why? We could really use your help right now." Sting was very confused at the sudden announcement, as far as he knew, Hiyori had nowhere to stay.

"I appreciate your help, but I don't think this is where I should be. If I stay now, everyone in the guild will just see me as the reason Yukino had to leave." She continued.

"I… Alright, if that's what you want then I can't stop you." Sting could see the conviction in her eyes. After she had been accused of destroying a school, he couldn't blame her for wanting to leave.

Hiyori left the room, leaving Minerva and Sting alone.

"What are you going to do now? I thought you said we needed her to make the defence spell." Minerva asked Sting.

"I'm not sure. We'll have to find another way, or maybe take on a lot of extra missions." Sting sighed as he leaned back into his chair.

_I have a bad feeling about all this._

**~Present day~ **

Sting hadn't seen Yukino since that day, neither had he seen Hiyori for that matter.

He had joined the meeting for the magic council in hopes of asking Makarov where Yukino is. After the grand magic games and meeting with Lucy he was sure she must have gone to Fairy Tail. If she wasn't here then where had she gone? He was also worried by what the dark guild master had told him.

A few days after the battle, he visited the dark guild master in hopes to learn more about what the motive of the attack was. When he reached his prison cell, the old man looked pale, almost as though he had seen a ghost. When Sting pressed him for answers, he said that he was instructed to attack the guild and that his mission had been successful. Before Sting could ask anything else, the guild master's eyes widened and he looked as though he was choking on something. Seconds later he collapsed to the ground. Dead.

Something didn't add up, and he felt as though it was his fault for not being prepared, for not being careful enough. He remembers the evil glint in the old man's eyes as he told Sting that his plan had worked. What did that mean? Ever since then he had felt more and more worried, especially since Yukino had disappeared without a trace.

He slumped to the ground of the train carriage and covered his face with his hands. They had payed back half of the money the guild owed, but it was never really the same ever since Yukino had left. This wasn't the way Sting had imagined the summer to go. Hell, he had actually planned to take Yukino out on a date, but instead she had been kicked out of the guild.

_Yukino. I'm so sorry._

* * *

Unknown to Sting or anyone else from the guild, after Hiyori had left Sabertooth she made her way into the dense forest in the east of Fiore. She wandered through the almost pitch-black forest when she reached a small clearing amongst the trees.

A man with jet black hair and white and black clothes stood on a strange, oddly smooth stone surface in the centre of the clearing. The stone had intricate writing on it, but not of any language known if Fiore.

"Were you successful?" He said plainly, not the least bit interested in her arrival.

"Yes, it went just as planned." Hiyori replied.

"Phase one of the plan is complete. I trust you know what to do next." He spoke in a neutral tone but never kept his eyes off the stone structure he was studying.

"Of course, Zeref. I will have my revenge and you will reach your goal. I will make certain of it." As Hiyori spoke, she began to glow faintly as her hair went from its innocent pink colour to dark black. Her face changed shape and her pupils became dark grey, looking devoid of any traces of life.

"I will make sure they all suffer." She said in a harsh tone, gritting her teeth as she imagined the day, she would finally get her revenge.

"Patience my dear, we have much to do and so little time." Zeref said as he chuckled.

_I have found Fairy Tail's weakness at long last. No one can stand in my way now. _Yet, even as he thought this, the image of one person flashed in him mind.

Sighing, he stood up and tore his gaze from the dark stone in front of him and looked at the girl.

"What do you say we have a little fun with our favourite fairies?" He smirked as he began to walk off into the distance.


	9. Journeys

A cool, early morning wind gently grazed past the wildflowers that grew by the train station. The summer sun lightened up the otherwise rather old looking stone building where travellers get their train tickets. Today was no exception, Erza stood by the office as she showed her ticket to the young man behind the glass window who gestured towards the opposite platform.

She had, as always, brought a rather large suitcase with her and dragged it along to a nearby bench. The train hadn't even come into the station yet but she had made it a habit to come early, especially to make sure Natsu and Gray won't cause any trouble. Not that they would of course, since she had purposefully chosen an early time to that the two of them were still too sleepy to start arguing.

_I wonder if Jellal is coming early as well, it would be nice to have a talk before everyone else got here._

Erza smiled, she had often imagined taking a long journey with just Jellal and herself. They could go to the far sides of Fiore and go on adventures together, just as they had dreamed of doing when they were younger in the tower of heaven.

Birds chirping from the nearby trees seemed to pierce through the serene atmosphere, breaking Erza's daydream and bringing her back to reality.

She sighed, realising that it would be a long time still before something like that could happen.

"Ready for the trip?" Jellal asked. He had somehow popped up right in front of Erza and noticing her surprised face, he gave her a sneaky smile.

"Were you thinking of someone special?" He said as he sat next to her.

"Umm… No, I was thinking about….. how I didn't have much for breakfast this morning." Erza knew Jellal had a knack for reading her mind, and on the top of her head it was all she could think of.

"Oh, I got some bread when I was walking by the bakery, you can have some if you like." Jellal handed her half a croissant.

"Thanks!" Erza said cheerily as she took a bit of the still warm croissant.

"So, did you find anything else about the mission?" Jellal asked after he looked around to make sure no one else was around.

Just then, a train whistle was heard in the distance. It billowed a large puff of steam as it began to slow down to a stop at the station.

"That's our train by the way. I'll tell you what we found inside." Erza reached to grab her suitcase but Jelal beat her to it. He lifted it up as though it was weightless, when in fact it happened to contain a lot of armour, books and some other things in the mix. Erza may seem very organised, but she always had trouble when deciding what to pack.

They went inside the carriage and sat in a cosy corner by the window.

"We found a book that had some more detail about the celestial temple, it apparently has some cloak around it so no one can use magic inside. I brought it with me for reference in case we need it." Erza started to explain.

"That's interesting, how about I grab the book and we can have a look at it." Jellal reached up to where her suitcase was, but before he could finish opening the bag Erza shot up and grabbed it.

"Oh, um, don't worry about it. I'll take it out, you can sit down." Erza said half panicked. Jellal arched an eyebrow and had an amused smile as he wondered what could be in her bag. They had known each other for a long time and for some reason, he was really curious to know what she was hiding.

Erza looked relieved when Jellal sat back down. She carefully opened the zip and lifted the top up just enough so that her hand could slide through without having to open the whole thing.

"Well, here it is." She said as she took a seat and showed Jellal the book.

A young woman with a trolley walked down the aisle and stopped as soon as she was next to them.

"Would any of you like a drink?" She asked sweetly.

"Two lemonade's please." Jellal asked as he paid her.

"Here you go. You two look like such an adorable couple." The woman looked between the two of them. Erza's face turns pink and Jellal simply smiled back at her.

"Thanks." He turned to look at Erza with a cheeky smile.

The woman gave a kind nod and left with her trolley. Jellal found Erza's reactions to be quite amusing, he often teased her like this just to see her pout at him or roll her eyes. Either way, Ezra was always fun to joke around with, and after everything that had happened recently it was nice spending time together and not having to worry about an impending battle.

He had hoped this mission together might be the start of a new chapter in their friendship, but the mission was, as ever, always the priority. Even now, he could sense Erza's tension as she looked at the book in front of them. She was worried about Lucy, which also meant that he was worried about the mission as well.

_Well, there's no harm in having a little fun along the way. _He grinned the thought of it.

"What are you smiling about now?" Erza gave him a sceptical look.

"You'll find out eventually." He said mysteriously, still grinning tooth to tooth.

At that moment, Natsu and Gray climbed on the train.

"See! I told you this was the right train!" Gray was already arguing with Natsu who was carrying his bag filled to the rim with food as always.

"Yeah well, I hate trains…" Natsu mumbled, already looking green.

"You two must have gotten here pretty early." Natsu jumped at the opportunity to tease Erza, but after she gave him a stern glare he gulped and took a seat. Erza simply started sipping her lemonade, somewhat glad the two of them had finally stopped arguing.

"You always carry such a big bag with you." Gray noted her usually over filled bag which was squeezed into the small space for luggage.

"What do you carry in there anyways?" Natsu was always curious but never asked in fear it would awaken Erza's wrath (or at least awaken it even more than it always was).

"I always thought it was a shrine dedicated to Jellal or something." Gray joked.

Erza spit out the lemonade she was drinking and started coughing profusely, her face was turning redder by the second.

"Nailed it!" Natsu was gunning ear to ear.

"Is that why you didn't let me see what was in your bag?" Jellal was trying (and failing) to hold back his laughter, he was now very curious as to what was actually in Erza's bag.

"What's everyone laughing about?" Lucy had just climbed on and had a bright smile as she walked towards the group.

"You won't believe what's in Erza's bag!" Natsu was about to tell Lucy, but Erza stood up and knocked him on the head.

"I think that's enough out of you!" She peered down at Natsu who had deflated onto the ground.

"They just started the engine a few minutes ago so I guess his motion sickness must have kicked in." Lucy felt a little sorry for him, the train journey was going to be several hours long and he already looked this pale before they had even left the station.

"Well, I guess we better go take our seats. I'll drag Natsu to the next carriage, do you wanna some with us Lucy?" Gray asked.

"Yeah sure!" She said, giving Erza a wink before leaving.

For the next few hours, Erza sat staring out the window and pouting. Her right hand was balanced on her cheek as she leaned on the table. After Jellal finished the book that Erza had given him, he thought he should try to break the silence.

"I think it's pretty cute you know." Jellal said as he gazed out the window like Erza was doing.

"They always stir up trouble." Erza mumbled.

"You don't have to join in you know." She rolled her eyes at Jellal's sheepish smile.

"Hmm ok well, I think I know how to cheer you up." He reached into his bag and pulled out a strawberry cake.

As soon as he placed it on the table, Erza's face lit up as she looked at the beautifully iced cake in front of her. The angel cake was filled with strawberries, even having one placed on the centre of it with cut strawberries around it, making it look almost like a flower. It was a small circular cake with white fondant and delicate white icing lining the sides. As she cut a piece and took a bite into it, the icing melted in her mouth and the fresh strawberries and sponge felt like a taste of heaven.

"Where did you get this from? I've never tasted anything like it." Erza enquired, sounding completely serious even though she looked like a young child who had just opened her Christmas presents.

"Well… do you mean that in a this-cake-is-amazing way or a this-cake-is-average way?" Jellal looked a bit nervous as he asked.

"Well, it's certainly better than an of the ones I've bought before. Dare I say it may even be better than the fresh ones Mira and Wendy make for me from time to time." Erza said between bites of cake.

"I made it myself actually…" Jellal pushed his hair back when he spoke, as he often did when he was nervous.

"Thanks, Jellal. I love it." she said in a soft voice as she gave him a warm smile.

"Oh here, you try a piece!" Erza split what was left of the cake in two and gave a piece to Jellal.

"It's really good." Jellal said after he took a bite, equally delighted by the joyful look on Erza's face.

* * *

Laxus and Ruby stepped into the den of the Obscurums and immediately something felt wrong.

Laxus was now close enough to have a better look at the monsters. From a distance they looked very much like a living shadow, which is where they got their name from - after all, obscurum was Latin for darkness.

Yet upon looking closer, the Obscurums weren't shadows at all. The closest he could think of was a fox that was entirely black, including its eyes - save for its pure white pupil and the flecks of white that was visible in its iris. They reached around half the height of the average man and had a cloak of shadow wrapped around them, which was actually a magic shield that was able to protect them against weaker attacks. They were extremely fast and preferred to use long distance combat, and so from afar they did indeed look like nothing more than a shadow.

Unfortunately for Laxus and Ruby, these shadows were about to become their living nightmare.

The Obscurums had formed ranks, unlike before where they were completely unorganised. Perhaps Ruby and Laxus had truly entered the fox's den. Before them was a series of caved that had been designed like a maze – and were certainly not made by the monsters. The walls of the caves had horizontal strips running along them, the writing had a dim grey glow which was the only source of light in the dark stone halls that they found themselves in.

"Maybe we should've told someone where we went before jumping in here." Laxus said, but when he turned around, he didn't see the portal they had come through. In it's place was yet another long stretch of what seemed like an endless stone hallway.

"Well, I guess we have no choice but to go forward." Ruby said as she gave a nervous laugh.

Laxus and Ruby began to walk along the hallway with their backs hugging the cold stone walls. Just as they were about to reach an intersection which connected the hallway to several others, a group of Obscurums walked by. They looked bigger than before and they exerted a larger magical pressure, almost as if they were giving a warning to any intruders who dared to enter their realm.

"Well… we really don't want to pick a fight with these guys…" Ruby whispered.

"I have an idea. You see the writing on the walls, right? I'm betting that has something to do with why these guys are so powerful. If we can find the source where the spell was cast and break it, it should stop the Obscurums reappearing." Laxus replied, eyes still glued to the hallway where the group of Obscurums just went through.

"Let's follow them and see where they go." Just as Laxus was about to move, Ruby grabbed on to his sleeve and stopped him. He turned around and gave her a questioning look as she bit her lip.

"I'm not so sure. The only way to stop the Obscurums is to destroy the summoning artefact, which should be in the centre of this place. That's what the scroll I was studying said anyways…" Ruby looked nervous as she spoke, her eyes darted around the area as she searched for any more monsters.

"But there's no way of knowing where that is. Our best bet would be to follow the Obscurums we just saw." Laxus said urgently, all too aware that if they waste too much time, it may become too little too late.

"If you look at the writing more carefully, it looks like it's pulsing. We should follow the pulses because they must link up to the central chamber." Ruby traced the writing on the wall next to her with her fingers, sure enough there was indeed a faint pulse in the greyish glow of the spell.

"That… may work. I didn't even notice that myself until just now actually." Laxus studied the writing, which bordered the maze as far as the eye could see.

_But if she's wrong… we could get seriously lost down here. _Laxus sighed as he contemplated what they should do.

"Alright, they seem to be going down the middle corridor up ahead." Laxus chose to believe Ruby since she had helped them out before and she had clearly done her research. They began to walk down the next hallway, still hugging the walls so that they can go by unnoticed.

_Her attacks do seem to be particularly effective though. That's a pretty rare magic she's got for sure. _Laxus remembered all the lessons his grandfather had given him on the magic types known in Fiore and as far as he could remember, Ruby's magic was definitely not mentioned.

Before he could give it much thought, the ground beneath both of them began to crumble and gave way. They plummeted down to the floor underneath, surrounded by a pile of rubble.

Laxus got up and brushed the dust on his clothes. He looked around to see Ruby still on the ground some distance away. She looked pale and her face was scrunched up in pain, he immediately ran towards her and knew something was wrong.

"What happened- "Before Laxus finished his sentence, he saw a rather large piece of rubble on Ruby's right leg.

_Crap! This really couldn't get any worse. _Laxus thought as he pushed the bolder off.

Just as he finished, a loud screech was heard behind him. Both of them looked wide eyed as they saw a group of Obscurums race towards them.

_Double crap! Seriously?! Of all the things that could have happened! _

"They must have been alerted by the crash!" Ruby said as he pulled herself up with a lot of force.

"Can you walk?" Laxus asked as he looked at the group of at least five Obscurums that were moments away from them.

"I think so." Ruby said with a hint of fear in her voice.

"It'll be alright, you start running ahead, I'll buy us some time." Laxus steadied himself as he stood facing the small army of monsters.

"But!" Ruby exclaimed as the first Obscurum lunged at him.

"Just go!" He shouted as he punched the black fox straight in its abdomen.

After a moment's hesitation, Ruby turned and ran down the hallway. She was limping slightly on her right leg but time was really of the essence.

Laxus continued to hold of the monsters with physical attacks since simple magic didn't seem to damage them very much – not to mention it would probably mean they would drain his own magic if he tried.

After a while he soon realised that unless he started using his stronger lighting dragon slayer spells, he was going to be in real trouble. After releasing a surge of electricity which knocked the Obscurums backwards, he made a run for it in the direction Ruby had gone in.

He had run for a good ten minutes before he caught sight of Ruby, she was at a split in the maze and after seeing Laxus she pointed towards the path on the left.

"I think it's this way!" She shouted before running in that direction.

"How do you know? We fell down a floor remember." He asked as soon as Laxus caught up to her.

"The writing on the wall of this floor is brighter than the one above, so it's more powerful down here. It could only mean that the source is somewhere on this floor." Ruby said as she took raged breaths of air.

The Obscurums were still chasing behind them when they suddenly saw a large marble door in front of them.

"I'll knock it down, brace yourself!" Laxus yelled. There was no other hallway and the Obscurums were hot on their tails.

"Lightning Dragon wing attack!" Laxus yelled as a golden magic circle formed in his hand. He jumped and struck the door which fractured into a thousand pieces in front of them.

Ahead of them was a dark green three dimensional pyramid which was in the centre of the large room. The writing in the walls of the labyrinth were as bright as a wild fire as they all interlocked and came together at the structure in the middle of the chamber.

"Ruby, go on ons side of the pyramid! We need to destroy it now or we'll have an army to battle!" Laxus shouted as he ran to one side of the stone structure. Behind then was now almost fifty Obscurums that were almost at the door of the inner chamber. Ruby nodded and ran to the side of the pyramid opposite Laxus.

"This must be the artefact used to summon the Obscurums! If we overload it then it should shatter and be destroyed!" Ruby shouted.

"Alright! Lets finish this for real this time!" Laxus replied as he started overloading the structure with magic.

The emerald pyramid began to glow and illuminate the large room.

"Just a little more!" Ruby shouted, all too aware of the crowd of monsters that continued to pile in the room by the second.


	10. Battles and Secrets

**Hi again Dreamers! This chapter is rather late but I've been crazy busy recently - There just wasn't enough time in the day :/**

**But at long last I've been able to publish the next chapter! I hope you like it :)**

**As for the whole weekly posting thing... I'll try my best but that might be somewhere closer to once in two weeks - I'll try my best to update sooner but we'll see how it goes...**

* * *

Laxus was pouring as much power as he could into the emerald artefact which had intricate writing laced its edges. They had thought that overloading the artefact would destroy it – and yet it only seemed to give the Obscurums more power.

"Is it just me or are these guys getting larger!" Ruby looked rather pale as she saw the monsters almost double in size. They began to circle around Laxus and Ruby, looking for an opportunity to strike.

One of them let out a loud screech and lunged at Ruby. Suddenly a burst of magical energy erupted from the centre of the room and the Obscurums let out a loud howl as they backed away from the centre of the room.

The emerald pyramid that once stood in the centre of the room fell apart like shattered glass; its once bright light now extinguished.

The Obscurum's dark cloaks began to crack, a blinding white light seemed to be coming within them. They all gave a final shout before they all burst into etherial energy.

"Kinda looks like fireworks." Laxus smirked as the self-confident look returned to his face. Ruby simple shook her head but felt as though she could finally relax.

Unfortunately, the peaceful moment was broken by a loud cracking sound. Looking up, the ceiling began to crumble, shortly followed by the ground beneath them shaking and splitting in two.

"Is this an earthquake?!" Ruby shouted.

"The artefact must have been the only thing holding this place up!" Laxus turned towards the exit but just before he began walking towards the large doors, a large chunk of rock came crashing down.

"We're trapped!" Ruby looked frantically around but there was no escape.

"Take my hand." Laxus held out his right hand to where Ruby was, an earnest look on his face.

"Al..Alright..." Ruby took his hand, the room around them was still collapsing but something in Laxus' gaze reassured her that they would be alright.

"Hold on tight!" Laxus pulled Ruby closer.

A golden magic circle formed above them, shining as bright as the sun. Ruby looked at Laxus with wide eyes but he simple grinned back.

"Lightning Dragon Eclipse!" Laxus shouted and the two of them were immediately launched upwards.

The spell destroyed the rock that was above them as they soared towards the sky.

They landed on a large rock formation but it wasn't anywhere near the stone archway they had entered from.

"This is the second island we saw from the beach!" Ruby exclaimed as she realised where they were.

"Well seems like the rumours weren't baseless after all – who would have thought that there was an ancient artefact all the way down there." Laxus looked down at the once large hole that he had made through the ground. It had now collapsed completely and appeared to be a pile of rubble.

Just as they could finally relax, the ground beneath them began to shake once again.

"Let's get out of here!" Ruby said as she walked towards the shore.

"Yeah." Laxus looked back towards the eerie black stone that made up the island.

_Strange that no one knew about this before though… _He thought.

…

It was late afternoon by the time they had made their way back to Dawn City. They walked back towards the hospital, hoping the people that were injured by the Obscurums were now better. Bickslow, Evergreen and Freed were waiting for them by the entrance, now looking much healthier than the last time they had seen them.

"Hey guys!" Ruby greeted them cheerily, she was relieved that they were back to their normal selves.

"Took you guys long enough!" Evergreen replied as she flipped her hair backwards. Her voice, as ever, sounded harsh but her kind gaze showed how concerned she was.

"You must forgive me Laxus! The Thunder God Tribe has failed youuu." Freed had already burst into tears as Laxus chuckled.

"Don't worry about it, everything worked out in the end anyways. And can you please stop calling us the Thunder God Tribe!" Laxus rolled his eyes.

"A few hours ago, the people who were attacked by the Obscurums before suddenly just got healed right up! I'm guessing you two had something to do with that?" Bickslow asked.

"And that huge explosion everyone heard as well?" Evergreen looked at Laxus sceptically.

"Yeah that was us! The mission's all finished and we can head back now." Laxus grinned and chose to ignore Evergreen's comment.

"Well, I guess this is it… I'll go report to the city mayor." Ruby looked sad as she said goodbye.

"Ah well about that… What would you say about joining Fairy Tail?" Laxus asked.

Ruby bit her lip as she recalled what Evergreen had told her before.

"Well you helped finish the mission, didn't you?" Evergreen said.

"Well yeah but you said…." Ruby trailed off.

"This was an S class mission you know. If you were able complete it with Laxus then I'd say you're more than qualified." Evergreen's gaze softened as she looked at Ruby.

"Besides, Laxus is the Guild Master's grandson so I'm sure you'll get in!" Bickslow said as he elbowed Laxus.

"How about we go ask him now?" Laxus took Ruby's hand and went to find a communication lacrima before anyone else could interject.

Soon enough they had indeed found one nearby and Laxus began calibrating it to contact Fairy Tail.

"You know how to use these?" Ruby asked as she peeked over his shoulder.

"Yeah we have to use them all the time. Since it's a lacrima you just have to infuse it with magic and put in the frequency for the receiving end and there you go." Just as Laxus finished an image showed up on the lacrima – but it wasn't who they were expecting.

Instead of Makarov's jovial face, he saw a rather irritated looking Mirajane.

"Hi there Mira-" Before Laxus could finish Mira cut in.

"Where on earth have you been Laxus?" Do you have any idea how many times Master has tried to contact you? Things have gotten really crazy over here!" Mira was almost yelling as she glared at Laxus. Master had told her about all the strange appearances and monsters that had been discovered recently – the one that Gajeel saw could have killed him.

"Look I'm really sorry Mira but I was busy with.. Can I just speak to Master please?" Laxus had a feeling he wasn't going to get through to Mira any time soon.

"He's gone to a Magic Council meeting, which he wanted you to come to as well. What have you been so busy with that you couldn't even get the time to see a lacrima message?" Mira continued to glare at Laxus but before he could reply Ruby peeked over Laxus's shoulder.

"Um Mira I can explain. You see Laxus and I…" Ruby looked at Mirajane's now icy glare and trailed off.

"You've spent this whole time with some random girl AGAIN?! Laxus you're better than this!" Mirajane was now well and truly infuriated. She wasn't too sure why but the sight of the petite black-haired girl next to Laxus made her feel like something had been set on fire.

"Wait this-" Before Laxus could say anything Ruby bolted out of the room. He sighed to himself - he could tell this was going to end badly.

"Master was even going to name you the next guild-." Mira stopped mid-sentence. She felt her gaze become blurry as her eyes began to water.

"Listen I-" The screen went blank and Laxus knew he was in for one hell of a ride when he got back.

_Oh crap I forgot about Ruby! _Laxus ran out of the room in search for her.

After a bit of a walk he found her crouched by the side of a fountain in the central park.

"Hey." He said as he walked up and sat next to her.

"I knew this was a bad idea." Ruby said in a quiet voice.

"No it's not that at all! Actually, it's my fault Mira got so angry." Laxus said as he looked at the darkening evening sky.

"What do you mean?" Ruby looked up at him questioningly. Laxus let out a sigh as he looked back at her.

"You see... It's a bit complicated." Laxus sighed again.

"We dated for a year or so. It wasn't much of a surprise to the guild since we had known each other since we were kids and things were going pretty well." Laxus sighed again, he looked as though he was in pain as hands clenched into fists.

"Dated as in past tense? What happened?" Ruby looked concerned as she asked.

"It was after.. no actually during the Tartaros battle. I always took pride in being an S class mage, in being someone who could use Dragon slayer magic. But in that fight, despite all my years of training we were on the brink of death. I don't think I've ever been that scared in my life." Laxus closed his eyes, reliving the moment when he took in the poisonous attack to save Bickslow, Evergreen and Freed. For months later it felt like his body was on fire and every movement hurt – even blinking.

"You know what Mira told me after the battle had finished?" He gave himself a self-depreciating laugh. Ruby was listening in silence; the pain was still fresh on Laxus' face even though the wounds had long since healed.

"She said that I was brave." Laxus remembered her struggling to get the words out, still crying as she sat by his bed in the infirmary.

"I was pathetic. I couldn't even defeat one enemy without being taken out. I knew I had to get stronger but the irony was that I could hardly move. I've never felt so powerless."

"A few weeks later I broke up with her. I couldn't live with myself the way things were. Everyone in the guild looks up to me, especially my grandfather and I wasn't ready. Sometimes I think I never will be." Laxus' voice was just a whisper as he confessed what had been bothering him all this time.

"That's not true! You were amazing back in there when we were fighting the Obscurums!" Ruby tried to reassure him but Laxus shook his head.

"No. I'm a coward. As soon as I got back to normal, I broke her heart and ran away. I've been taking back to back missions ever since to avoid going back to the guild. I said I need to get stronger but all this time I've just been running away." Laxus looked away and starting blinking rapidly.

Ruby was still unsure of what to say as she bit her lip.

After a long pause she spoke up. "Well why don't you face your fears head on?" she stood up and extended a hand to Laxus.

"All you have to do is give it time, Laxus. I'm sure everyone else will understand."

He gave a weak smile but accepted her hand as he stood back on his feet.

"Let's go back to Fairy Tail. After all, you know what they always say. Thinking won't get you anywhere, the only way to conquer you fears is to face them." She gave Laxus a bright smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Laxus smiled as they made their way back, thinking that maybe, just maybe, things would go back to normal when he returned.

* * *

"Ughhhh" Natsu groaned for the millionth time as the train finally made its way into Shirotsume station.

"It's ok Natsu! We're at the station so we can get off now." Lucy said cheerily. Natsu's complexion was still very pale and slightly green.

"Fin…Finally" Natsu tried to get up, grabbing on to the edge of his seat for support. A few seconds later he fell back down face first on the ground.

"Owwwww…" Natsu mumbled, not bothering to move from where he fell.

"Umm Gray do you mind helping Natsu off the train." Lucy looked at Gray expectantly.

"Why do I have to do itttt." Gray complained but he still lifted Natsu up and half dragged him off the carriage.

He walked to a nearby bench and dumber Natsu on it, with a nervous looking Lucy standing next to him.

"Thanks..." Is all Natsu managed to get out, still recovering from the long train ride.

"Oh good you guys got Natsu." Erza said as she walked towards them, shortly followed by Jellal.

"Well we all made it in one piece... More or less." Jellal said as he looked at Natsu.

"Let's hear off to the motel. We are leaving for the Celestial Temple early tomorrow morning, right?" Erza asked Jellal.

"Yeah, that's the plan. Listen, I gotta meet up with the rest of Crime Sorciere and sort out some things. I'll see you tomorrow ok?" Jellal replied.

"Yeah, sure." Erza smiled as she watched him go.

Jellal walked towards where Crime Sorciere had already made camp. It was already late evening and there was a warm campfire waiting for him.

"How was the train journey?" Meredy asked when she noticed Jellal walking towards the camp. She had already set up a work bench which had a pike of old books as well as a rather old map which took over most of the table.

"Have you seen anything suspicious?" Jellal asked. He had asked her and a few other members of Crime Sorciere to scope out the area, just in case anyone else had stumbled across the ruins before they got the chance.

"Nope. There were a few hunters in the woods but that was closer to the river." Meredy gestured towards the river that ran down one side of the mountain that eventually cut through Shirotsume. There was a large red circle around the site where the Celestial temple ruins were thought to be.

"That's good. We don't want this getting any unwanted attention." Jellal stared at the map and looked deep in thought.

"Listen… I was going to leave this till after the mission but something's come up." Meredy bit her lip as she carefully chose her words.

"What is it?" Jellal asked. It had only been a few days since they last saw each other, surely nothing too drastic could have happened in that much time.

"Well you see… Yukino's left her guild. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal but no one's seen her since that day." Meredy heard the rumour that she had gone missing a month ago but they had all thought it was yet another rumour.

"Are you sure? What did Sorano say… I'm sure Yukino would have told her older sister something about where she was going at the very least." Jellal asked as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"No, she hasn't heard from her in months. She was worried about Yukino so she left for Sabertooth a few days ago, along with Sawyer." Meredy remembered Sorano's concerned face when she heard the news. She was surely feeling guilty about not being in contact with her sister, but then again, the missions Crime Sorciere went on were usually some far of desolate land with little access to communication devices.

"It does seem rather odd." Macbeth walked towards them, clearly having overheard their conversation.

"Or she just had a fight with her guild mates. We could be overreacting to all this." Meredy placed a hand on her hip as her voice took on a more irritated tone.

"Hmm but still, something doesn't add up here…" Jellal closed his eyes and thought about what could have happened.

_She may have been targeted by someone. Perhaps she got on the wrong side of a dark guild on one of her missions or something. Ahh that does seem rather far fetched though… perhaps it's just a simple case of just wanting to run away from whatever it was that was bothering her. But still just to be on the safe side…_

"Hey Macbeth, do you mind heading down to the city tomorrow and contacting Makarov. I think this is something he should know." Jellal said.

"Yeah sure but... what about the whole celestial temple stuff?" He asked

"We'll handle it on our own. It doesn't seem like there's anything to be worried about. I can hardly sense any magical pressure coming from there." Jellal replied.

"I'll go ask Erza if she's heard anything about Yukino." Jellal got up and started heading back to the motel they were staying at.

…

As Jellal walked back to the city, the night stars slowly started to fade as they were drowned out by the bright lights of the city. It was well into the night when Jellal finally got back to the motel and as he stood outside Erza's door he hesitated before knocking.

_Maybe I should have come tomorrow… I don't want her to get the wrong idea or anything…_

After hearing no reply, he turned the doorknob to find that the door was actually unlocked.

"She can be so forgetful sometimes." He whispered under his breath.

He opened the door and walked into the room, but instead of seeing a sleeping Erza, he just saw an empty bed. The sheets were still crisp, the only thing in the room that indicated someone was here was a half open suitcase.

Jellal remembered the conversation he had with Natsu and Gray on the train and well… the timing couldn't be any better.

"Well it couldn't hurt to peek…" Jellal said as he walked towards the suitcase.

He lifted up the lip just enough so that he could see what was inside, half expecting to find it filled to the teeth with armour.

But when he finally saw what was in the suitcase, he smiled and his gaze became softer.

In the middle of the suitcase was a small photo frame that could fit in his hand. It was a heart shaped frame and had two people smiling back. Erza was on the right and he was on the left, it was a picture they had taken a year or so ago, back before things got so out of hand.

"Hang on a second I think I left it in my room." Erza's voice could be heard from the hallway and sure enough a few seconds later there was a distinct click of the doorknob.

"Ah there it is." Erza grabbed her bag from inside the closet, the room was completely empty.

After she walked back into the corridor a loud sigh could be heard just outside the balcony of her room.

Jellal stood just to the right of the glass door, he had just enough time to run outside and hide.

"That could have gone wrong." Jellal gulped as he imagined Erza's flurry of attacks if she had found her in her room.

"Yeah… I'll just ask her tomorrow." Jellal said, not wanting to risk getting caught breaking and entering – especially in Erza's room.

As he slid away into the night, there was still a smile on his face as he walked back to Crime Sorciere's camp.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi there Dreamers! **

**This chapter took quite a while to write - thanks for being patient! Well, I hope you like the chapter :D**

* * *

"Finally! Time for some action!" Natsu fist pumped in the air, a small flame dancing just above it.

"Calm down would you... It's way too early for this." Gray yawned – it was daybreak and the sun had just begun to peek over the mountains to the east of the city.

"Do we really have to hike all the way up there?!" Lucy whined as she saw the huge mountain they had to trek.

"Well what did you expect? Now hurry up, we're burning daylight." Erza'a stern voice could be heard just up ahead as she rolled her eyes. The forest crawled up the side of the mountain, getting thicker with every step.

Lucy jogged up to catch up to Erza just as Gray and Natsu began bickering again.

_I hope this works out…_

She looked up at the brightening sky, hoping that they might find a hint to where the Aquarius key is.

After walking for a few hours they entered a break in the forest, at the centre was a strange stone with a strange language carved into it. Just behind it stood a large cliff face, far too steep to even thing of climbing.

"Well, this is it." Erza said as she came to a stop.

"What… No this can't be it." Lucy whispered as her shoulders slumped.

Natsu's ears perked up and he walked closer to the stone structure for a closer look.

"Indeed, there's often more than what we see in front of us." Jellal entered the clearing, Meredy close behind.

Erza's eyes narrowed as she noticed it was just the two of them.

"Where's everyone else?" Erza asked.

"It's just the two of us I'm afraid." Meredy flipped her hair back as she replied.

_But Jellal said that half of his guild would be coming along as well… _Erza frowned as she looked at the two of them.

"Is this supposed to be some type of gate?" Natsu asked, turning towards Jellal.

"Yeah you guessed it, we need to activate it somehow." He replied as he walked up to Natsu.

He placed a hand on the writing and studies it carefully. The clearing seemed to be in a random place in the forest and yet there was just grass around the structure in front of him – clearly something was stopping the growth of plants nearby. And yet there was barely and magical pressure coming from the area – most of which was likely coming from everyone standing here.

The stone in front of him was a pale red colour, shaped like a hexagonal prism with a strange series of shapes inscribed in dark blue. The top had an image of a key but no means to find out how to activate it.

"Hmm seems like instructions are carved into the sides but I can't make out which language its using…" Jellal said after studying the monument for some time.

"That's concerning, perhaps we should have brought Levy along with us." Erza added in.

"But all we need to do is cast a burst of celestial magic." Natsu said plainly.

Everyone urned their heads around to look at Natsu, almost not believing what he had said.

"Wait – don't tell me you actually understand what's written on there do you flame brain?" Gray was surmised but also half convinced Natsu was making this up.

"Wait how do you even know such an ancient language?" Lucy questioned. ~Even after learning about celestial magic almost all er life, she had never come across such a language, not to mention actually think that someone might be able to understand it.

"Well yeah I am a bit rusty but it came back to me when I started readin this book I found." Natsu replied nonchalantly and pulled out a very old looking book from his bag – the very same one that he had been reading back at his house.

The book was of course very old, its pages almost brown with age. What at a passing glace simply looked like extremely messy writing was indeed a different language altogether. It looked almost like hieroglyphics with its strange shapes and swirls doted across the ages.

"Well that makes things a lot simpler – Im guessing it's something you learnt from Igneel?" Jellal said as he admired the old book that Natsu had found.

"Yeah he taught it to me when I was just learning English." Natsu replied.

"No wonder your English is so horrible!" Gray joked.

"Well now that we have a translator we can unlock whatever it is that's here." Erza said as she gestures towards the stone structure.

"Alright well here goes." Natsu crouched next to one of the panels, tracing along the lines of writing with his fingers as he went along.

After a while he spoke up. "It says… no this can't be right." Natsu trailed off.

"Wh… What does it say?" Lucy asked, to which Natsu frowned.

"Well, if this is right hen only someone who can wield celestial magic can open this barrier."

"Well that's fine since I'm right here." Lucy relied slowly, but from Natsu's face there was more to it.

"It says 'You must pay the price of the stone infused with the magic of the spirits in order to break the seal'." Natsu said after another pause.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Meredy asked, looking slightly confused.

"The price of the stone… It's clearly a riddle which we need to solve." Jella rubbed the bridge of his nose as he thought of what it could mean.

"Mannn why do these things always have to be some messed up riddle!" Gray said.

"It has to be me, since it says magic of the spirits. But I don't get the first part. Do I just infuse my magic into the stone?" Lucy asked.

"Well it certainly won't do any harm to try." Jellal replied.

Lucy walked up to the stone and placed both hands on the top of the monument. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate her magic.

"Well here goes." She whispered to herself.

The top of the monument began to glow faintly but gradually got brighter.

"It's working!" Meredy exclaimed.

Soon enough the ground beneath them began to shake almost like an earthquake, but just as suddenly the movement stopped.

"I need to try harder!" Lucy exclaimed as she put more magic into the monument.

Even after a minuite noting had changed, an anxious Erza looked at Lucy who was on the verge of crying.

She nudged Natsu in the ribs. "Oww what the-" Natsu was about to complain but Erza gave him a glare and gestured towards Lucy. He simply nodded and stepped closer to her.

"Lucy." He whispered.

"No! Not yet! We were so close!" She half screamed, emotion thick in her voice.

"Look… well find a way ok. We aren't giving up… just take a break for a while ok?" Natsu's voice was gentle as he placed a hand on her shoulder that was now trembling.

"Alright…" Lucy gave in and stopped pouring her magic into the monument.

"We much have missed something, maybe in the first part of the riddle?" Jellal asked.

Lucy was still breathing heavily and looked slightly pale but still managed to give a smile.

"But this is the stone, and the mission said that this was already active." Gray said.

"Actually your right... according to the rumours someone had already activated by someone else before we got there. They must have known what to do." Meredy said as she looked at Jellal.

"But there's no other key – not in the writing there or nearby that shows that we need something else." Natsu interjected.

"Well we should have another look at the riddle, we already know it's possible." Jellal said.

"Well it says you must pay the price of the stone... Hmmm well the stone is pale red colour so-" Erza stopped as her eyes widened.

"What is it? Did you work it out?" Jellal asked.

Erza swallowed hard before continuing. "Well the stone is pale red so I guess I thought… Th..that it looked like the colour of blood…" She stammered.

"Well it's not uncommon for the ancients to have gaudy sacrifices but…" Jellal trailed off. He looked at Lucy who was still very pale.

"It's ok I can do it." Lucy stood up shakily but started falling. Natsu managed to catch her just before she hit the ground but she had already lost consciousness.

"Lucy! Lucy come on wake up!" Natsu said, panic clear in his voice.

Erza stepped closer to check Lucy's pulse.

"Well her pulse seems normal enough and she's breathing normally." She said with a sigh.

"But why did she faint?" Meredy asked.

"She likely collapsed due to magic exhaustion." Jellal answered.

"How much magic did that thing drain?!" Gray was surprised, all in all Lucy had only been trying to open the gate for the last ten minutes.

"What are we going to do now?" Meredy said with an arched eyebrow.

"Can you all stop!" Natsu cut in, his voice slightly on edge. Lucy was cradled in his lap and he held her hand tightly.

"Natsu we were just thinking-" Before Jellal could continue Natsu cut in.

"I don't care. Lucy just collapsed goddammit. She needs to get some rest." Natsu was still looking at Lucy , concern clear in his voice.

He picked her up princess style and began carrying her down the mountain. Before anyone could say anything else he added.

"I'm taking her back to the motel." He said just before he walked out of site.

He looked down at Lucy, still pale as a sheet in his arms.

"I'm sorry Lucy." He whispered into the air.

* * *

Elsewhere deep in a forest there was a man playing chess on a cut tree stump.

The area was shrouded in darkness with small patches of light peeking through the dense leaves above.

"I thought I'd find you here." A figure stepped from the depth of the shadows into the light.

"Well you were one of the few that knew me well. I'm not sure that will help you now though." He said as he moved another piece on the bored.

"Haven't you had enough of these games Zeref?" Mavis demanded as she punched the makeshift table that the chess board was on. The pieces clattered as they shifted out of place.

"Come on now Mavis, you always loved games." Zeref was calm as ever when he replied, still fixated on the board. Naturally his side was black and he opposing side was white, he had already captured a white bishop which he had balanced between his slender fingers.

"Toying with lives may be something that thrills you but I'm not the same." Mavis replied firmly.

Zeref took one of the white queen's piece, but instead of attacking his piece he killed a white pawn.

"Is that why you killed Makarov's mother? And ran away straight after." Zeref said coldly as he threw the white pawn at Mavis' feet.

She winced as she picked up the piece, guilt clear in her eyes.

"That… That was an accident." She said as she looked at Zeref.

"Really. Then do tell me when you plan on telling him." Zeref steadied his gaze on the board.

She bit her lip and looked away, in her heart of hearts she knew here was truth to what he said but she refused to admit it.

"You're avoiding the question dear Mavis."

He moved one of his pawns to the back of the board, promoting it to a Queen.

"Isn't it lovely when things go your way?" Zeref sighed.

Mavis studied the board, still unsure of what was happening.

"Now now, if you keep going at this rate you're bound to lose." Zeref smirked.

"What are you planning Zeref?" She asked.

"Well I could tell you. But then again where's the fun in that? Zeref found the conversation very entertaining.

"You can't do this!" Mavis raised her voice.

For a few moments there was silence as Zeref studied the board. After some time he moved his new Queen next to the opposing team's King.

"Do you really think you can stop me? After all this time I have something I never had before." Zeref's smirk returned and he had a cynical glint in his eye.

"Tell you what, how about we go on a little stroll?" Zeref said as he got up.

"And why would I do that?" Mavis replied, very sceptical of the offer.

"Stay here for all I care. It's not like I've got anything to lose." He said plainly as he walked away.

Mavis stood where she was for a few minutes, but in the end decided to follow Zeref.

As they entered the darkness of the forest Zeref began speaking again.

"What would you say is Fairy Tail's greatest strength? That is he thought I started with some time ago and I wanted to find the source of it." Zeref said coolly.

"You will gain nothing from this. The bonds that my guild has are second to none. Nothing can break them." Mavis said proudly.

The air itself seemed to get colder as they stepped further into the thicket.

"Are you really so sure?" Zeref replied, a cold edge to his voice.

"Without a doubt." She replied.

"You shouldn't be overconfident you know."

Mavis looked at him and tried to read his expression, but as ever she couldn't understand what he was thinking.

"You forget that Fairy Tail has many enemies. You would do well to keep that in mind.

* * *

Happy was devouring a plate of fish when the doors of the guildhall opened. Laxus, Ruby, Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow entered the guild.

Shouts could be head form everyone in the guild who greeted them and welcomed them back.

"Ohhh and who is this you've brought with you?" Cana asked as she eyed Ruby.

"The newest member of our guild!" Laxus replied cheerily.

"Umm... Hi everyone I'm Ruby." She said shyly.

"Quite the looker you've got there eh Laxus." Guildarts added.

"Well old habits die hard." An irritated Mira said.

She locked eyes with Laxus and just as it looked like he was about to say something, she turned away back towards the bar.

"Ouch that was icy." Happy said as he finished munching on his fish.

"Oh um how about you show me around the guild?" Ruby said cheerily, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Yeah sure!" Laxus replied as he walked up the stairs with Ruby.

Levy walked over to the bar and tried to pick up a conversation with Mira.

"Hey Mira! I was wondering if you wanted to grab some dinner with me later."

"I know what you're trying to do Levy. I'm not buying it." She said flatly.

"Come on, Ruby seemed pretty nice you know." Levy was going to continue but Mira shot her a harsh glare.

"Don't you think this is suspicious? First Laxus disappears out of nowhere and when he finally comes back he claims it's because of this girl that he happened to find when he was on a mission." Mira had been thinking long and hard for a reason, any reason why Laxus would act the way he did, leaving when they needed him most. But he just seemed to revert back to his old self.

_The only one he cares about is himself. Master needed him desperately in the last few months – but of course he chose that moment to go MIA…_

"W…Well it's not that uncommon to meet new mages on a mission." Levy interjected.

"Do you really expect me to believe a mage who no one's ever heard of just dropped from the sky – that to one that's S class level. She never even joined a guild, it's practically impossible for anyone to become that skilled without joining one and you know that as well as I do." Mira continued, she had clearly been thinking about this a lot.

"Actually now that you mention it, it is a little suspicious."

"Really you too Gajeel? I'm sure if we just ask her what is going on she'll explain it." Levy eyed Gajeel – he really wasn't helping. Meanwhile Mira had a huge conspiracy all put together.

"Ok then we'll ask her to explain herself – but I just need something that will make sure she's telling the truth." Mira had a sneaky glint in her eye and both Gajeel and Levy looked at each other sceptically.

Later that day Mira snuck into Ruby's room. She knew which one it was since she was the lock keeper.

The room itself was of course standard for Fairy Hills – the old lodgings were destroyed so they just made a new mixed building for both male and female mages to use. The room had little furniture, just a small desk and chair, a simple wardrobe in one of the corners and a single bed with light pink linens by the window.

Just next to the closet was a small bag that was a pale green colour, which seemed to be the only thing that Ruby had brought with her.

Mira opened the bag to find it contained mostly what you'd expect, a few sweaters, pens and paper. But then she found a small chest that had the engraved initials of L.Z. She slowly opened the chest and looked at the contents inside.

"I knew it." She have a satisfied smirk and she took the chest with her as she made her way back towards the guild hall.

The doors of the Guild hall flung open, Mira marched into the room with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Mira what are you doing?" Levy was concerned and had a very bad feeling about where this was going.

Mira ignored her and walked up to where Ruby and Laxus were sitting.

"So Ruby, why did you really come to Fairy Tail?" Mira demanded, the chest she had found was tucked inside her sleeve where no one could see.

"What do you mean Mira? I just wanted to join a guild-"

"So you didn't have another motive?" Mira asked with a sweet voice, but her face was the image of anger.

"Come on Mira cut it out." Laxus tried to stop the conversation before things got worse but he was already too late.

"Your little hook up here isn't as innocent as she seems you know." Mira stared at Ruby who winced as she finished her sentence.

"I'm telling you Mira I didn't really-" But before Ruby could say anything else Mira pulled the chest out of her sleeve.

Ruby had suddenly gotten very pale as she stared wide eyed at the now open chest.

"Look familiar?" Mira had a harsh icy tone as she interrogated her.

"How.. How did you even get that?!" Ruby was sweating, hyper aware that all eyes of the guild were on her.

"Admit it, all you wanted to do was use Laxus!" Mira screamed.

Inside the chest was an old piece of paper that looked like an old mission poster. On it was a clear reward of five billion Jewel – and the requirements showed that you needed a Lightning Dragon slayer in order to complete the mission.

"I.. I'm sorry!" Ruby snatched the chest along with its contents and bolted out of the guild hall, tears clear on her cheeks.

Laxus was just about to get up but then Mira stopped him.

"What the HELL Mira!" He yelled.

"This is your fault you know, you shouldn't have trusted her." Mira replied, a frown clear on her face.

"So you took her things and embarrassed her in front of the entire guild?!" Laxus was infuriated - it may be true that Ruby hadn't been honest but that was no excuse for Mira to have done what she did.

"You know what. It's hopeless even talking to you." Laxus sighed as he walked past her.

Mira saw him walk out of the guild hall, tears falling off her own cheeks.

"Mira-" Levy reached for her shoulder but she turned away.

"Just leave me alone!" She said with a choked up voice as she ran up the stairs if the guild.

* * *

**And that's the end of this chapter - I've gotta say its getting longer and longer every chapter I write but as ever it's really fun :)**

**-As a side note I'm looking for Beta Readers so if anyone's interested (or you know anyone that might be) DM me!**

**Well until next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

Ruby's vision grew blurry as she ran from the guild hall, hot tears on her cheeks as she ran through the crowded streets. She has no clue where she was going but she ended up by the waterside of a river. She walked down an empty pier and sat with her legs just over the edge.

In her hand was still the small chest that Mira had taken from her bag.

_Maybe all this was a mistake after all. _She thought

"Everyone has their secrets you know." Laxus said as Ruby turned around with wide eyes and saw him standing behind her.

He sat down next to her, taking the chest gently in his hand.

"You could have told me you know. I would have helped you." Laxus sighed as he looked at the mission flier.

"No! It's not like that at all I swear!" Ruby exclaimed, still looking rather pale.

"I'm sure you have a good explanation. I know what Mira said but… I trust you. Don't make me regret it ok?" Laxus said as he turned to Ruby and looked her straight in the eye.

"Well the thing is… That's not actually mine." Ruby started speaking slowly.

"Then who's is this?" Laxus asked.

"It used to belong to my parents. They were mages that had the same magic as me but they worked as archaeologists. This was the mission they had taken around 15 years ago now."

"Why didn't they finish it then? It's worth a lot of money." Laxus said.

"Well you see, there was an explosion in the place where they worked. Someone had stolen one of the old artefacts from a safe… but the explosion also led to the collapse of the building and well…" Ruby trailed off at the end as she started crying again.

"Ahhh that explains it." Laxus said softly as he gave the chest back to Ruby.

"The..The mission was never completed and of course the person who requested it retracted the reward. I wanted to complete it since it was supposed to be a mission they wanted to complete together before… Well I just thought that maybe I could do it in their stead." Ruby explained.

"It says here that you need someone who has the power of a dragon slayer or more… I'm guessing that's supposed to be me." Laxus said.

"Yeah well, there weren't many dragon slayers around and when I heard that they had called you to the city I guess I just thought that maybe you would want to…" Ruby trailed off again.

"You could have told me in the beginning you know, I would love to come." Laxus sighed again.

"Really?! You still want to come with me?" Ruby was shocked, she certainly wasn't expecting that.

"Yeah well, it meant a lot to your parents and it's not like it's gonna kill me." Laxus smiled.

"Thank you!" Ruby jumped and hugged Laxus who was knocked backwards.

"Oh umm its fine…" Laxus' cheeks grew pick as he looked at Ruby who was mere inched away from him.

"Ahhh sorry!" Ruby climbed off after she saw Laxus' rather contagious blush.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Laxus asked.

"What do you mean?" Ruby tilted her head, not having the slightest clue about what he was referring to.

"You're part of a guild now Ruby, everyone else there deserves the truth as much as I do." Laxus gestured in the direction of the guild hall.

Ruby shirked away, not wanting to meet Laxus' gaze.

"I don't think they'll believe me. You saw the way they were looking at me back then… They probably think I'm just some wannabe mage that you picked up." Ruby turned away, starting to walk in the opposite direction.

Laxus grabbed her hand and tugged her back towards the direction of the guild hall.

"They'll understand, I know they will." Laxus smiled as he walked towards to guild hall.

"Come on Laxusss." Ruby whined.

"It'll be fine... You can trust me you know." Laxus said as he grinned ear to ear.

Looking at Laxus' earnest gaze made Ruby feel a little shy as she whispered. "You promise…"

Soon enough, Laxus had gathered the whole guild and asked Ruby to explain everything she had told him.

"Well, that clears things right up – welcome to the guild Ruby!" Levy cheered after she had finished.

"I'm sorry guys, I should have just come clean form the beginning." Ruby had been toying with her hair the whole time, as she often did when she was nervous. Looking at everyone's kind gaze made her finally relax as she let out a sigh.

"So where's gramps?" Laxus asked as he peered into his office.

"Oh he's gone on a magic council meeting." This time it was Gajeel who replied.

"Really? At this time?" It was quite rare for the meeting to be called unless something was going on.

"Actually there's something master wanted to tell you… he left a message in his office." Gajeel jerked his head in the direction of master's office and Laxus knew that whatever happened was something serious.

Laxus closed the door behind him as Gajeel pulled out a few sheets of paper.

"What happened?" Laxus asked.

"A lot. Would it kill you to stop by more often? Master's been worried you know." Gajeel said with a slightly stern tone, to which Laxus winced.

"Yeah well, I've been training." He explained.

"Uh huh, yeah sure. Well here's the deal." Gakeel handed him the papers he had collected.

"Someone's been writing a new horror book?" Laxus arched his eyebrows as he looked at the pictures.

"Really, now is the time you choose to joke." Gajeel grunted.

"These have all been sightings from different regions around Fiore. Some strange creature has been attacking people seemingly at random. The pictures are what people have described them as." Gajeel pointed to the different images.

"And you're sure there's a connection here right?" Laxus asked.

"Well they do seem to be related, after all they all look like some shadow thing." Gajeel tried to explain, but the images of the so called monsters just showed a figure in black.

"I ran into one actually. It looked like something cloaked in dark magic but… It was very powerful." Gajeel almost shivered as he recalled his encounter with whatever this thing was.

"Well you'll be pleased to know that they've all been destroyed." Laxus said confidently.

"What do you mean? How are you so sure anyways." Gajeel looked at him sceptically.

"The last mission that I went on, where I met Ruby actually." Laxus took out a folded mission flier and showed it to Gajeel.

"But this is..."

"The same description of the strange monsters you were talking about." Laxus flashed a satisfying smile as he saw the surprise on Gajeel's face.

"It was an old rune that was activated, creating what we identified as Obscurums. No longer any worry though, we destroyed it back at Dawn city." Laxus explained what he had been up to the past few weeks, smiling at his triumph.

"Well that's a relief, seems like master had gotten all worked up for nothing. I'll ask Mira to send over a message to him so he can report it to the magic council." Gajeel said.

On Makarov's desk, which was littered with old papers and books, was a stack of messages that had to be sent off to the magic council. No one noticed but one of the notes was from Sorano, which asked if anyone had heard anything about Yukino recently.

"Well here we go, I've written up the mission report." Laxus handed over the report to Gajeel, who placed it on the stack of messages.

"You going off on a mission now?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah well, I don't see why not." Laxus shrugged as walked out of the office.

"Hmmm, something tells me this isn't the end..." Gajeel looked at the image of the monster that had been drawn, having a bad feeling that they were missing something.

He walked up to the map of Fiore that spread across one of the walls, some of the corners had ripped off and it was clearly a map that had been used often. He picked up a pen and circled the island just off Dawn city.

"Last time I checked, black magic doesn't just randomly start working again." He murmured.

Sighing, he left the office and went back into the guild hall. At his usual table was a smiling Levy who waved her hand as she saw him.

_On the other hand… Maybe I'm overthinking this._

* * *

**Hi again Dreamers! **

**The end of another chapter! It is shorter than usual but this way I can update more often - This may be a one off shorter one but we'll see how it goes!**


	13. notice

Hi Dreamers!

I haven't updated in quite a while and I do plan on it... At the moment things are rather hectic but in a few weeks I am planning on posting another chapter!

Thanks for waiting!

~DreamingFreedom


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